Boys Over Flowers And Girls Over Shadows
by Crazydreamer33
Summary: What if Geum Jan di and Ga eul are not all they seem? And what if Song Woo Bin has a cousin who just happens to be Geum Jan di's best friend? How would F4 react when their world is turned upside down because of girls? Would sparks fly amidst inevitable clashes? Or everything would be turned into ashes? Read to find out!
1. prologue

**Boys over flowers and girls over shadows...**

**Prologue**

_**One year ago, Outskirts of New York**_

It was almost too quiet in this particular part of New York. No one was to be seen or heard around the abandoned buildings. In one such building, unknown to most, were two teen girls. They lay unconscious on the concrete ground, unaware of danger looming around them. Both heavily drugged if one had to hazard a guess to the cause of their incapacitation.

Standing before them, was a young man in his late twenties, contemplating in silence. His dark hair ruffled and messy because of the wind. It was rare to see him without his guards. At almost 6 feet in height, his skinny appearance made it look like he was swimming in his expensive suit. Standing before them was the heir to the infamous red hawk mafia clan. Although he himself wasn't able to cause much harm, his family was another matter altogether. He asked his guards to leave him alone with girls once they were dropped off. Unaware of any danger they could possess if awake. Adhering to his command, the guards left him alone, taking station outside of the warehouse.

With a lack of entertainment from the unconscious girls, he began to drowse off in his chair. It had been a while after all since they were brought in and were still unconscious. 'Dose of drug given to them was too strong perhaps? Or maybe they were just that much more weaker and fragile…' he thought at first. Thinking a nap would pass off time more quickly, he sat down on a chair, leaned back, and relaxed his body and mind.

The next thing he knew, the chair beneath him had disappeared and he fell down on his back. Looking around, he wasn't able to make out anyone or anything around him. Cursing the lack of lights, he looked around before checking on two girls he'd brought there. Only they weren't there!

He stood up warily, looking around for signs of danger. He walked forward, cursing his decision of sending his guards back to their posts. He heard the sound of metal chains echo behind him, and turned around, expecting to see someone twice his size, packed with lots of muscles or even several people of such stature. All his fear wasn't able to prepare him for seeing a petite girl wearing a leather jumpsuit and mask.

He burst out laughing. "You are going to fight with me, little girl?" he mocked. "Go home, play dress up or something with your mom," he said tauntingly.

Before he could say anything else, she was standing in front of him. Her foot raised in a face level sidekick paused merely an inch away from colliding with his face. He took a step back. His eyes wide as he stared at the sole of her shoe that was raised in mid air.

"One more word without being spoken to and my kick will not stop without hitting your face' she said in a deadly cold voice.

He just nodded. "Now why don't you answer our questions? And we might just let you leave here still alive.' A voice sounded behind him, he turned just enough to face the new arrival but not enough to turn his back completely towards the previous girl. He was greeted by yet another girl in similar attire as the first. While the previous one was wearing all black, this one was in brown.

"What questions? And who are you both?" he asked, keeping his tongue in line, having almost experienced a kick from the girl, and not wanting to taste another. He doubted he would be able to take on both of them if they were skilled fighters.

"Start by telling us why you captured those two girls?" asked the girl in the brown jumpsuit.

The confused expression on guys face morphed into an angered one. "You are here for that bitch, aren't you?" he spat. "Where is she?" he shouted.

"If you have forgotten then let me remind you that you kidnapped two girls from central mall Mr. Genius," the same girl replied in a sarcastic tone.

"I just meant to take the one. The other one was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said with a wave of his hand, "Say, an unnecessary casualty if you would. Now, who are you two and where the hell is Geum Jan-di?" he boomed.

If the girls weren't pissed off before, his words managed to seal the deal. The girl in the black jumpsuit asked in a controlled voice, "Why did you kidnap her in the first place?"

His expressions changed once again, now showing anger and craziness. "I loved that girl, and I wanted to marry her. Marrying her would have been beneficial for our family as well. Imagine the money and a platform for business she would've brought into the family," He

said with a crazed cackle, but then his expression was full of grief and anger, "but she refused my proposal, how dare she? She even managed to convince the old bastard not to marry her off to our family, and that old man she considers as grandfather doesn't even like her. Although who could fault him on that one though? She's just a girl. Yet she managed to convince him somehow. She refused me. Me! Heir of the red Hawk clan."

If this statement surprised the girls, they didn't show it. He was still rambling. "And she managed to escape even now. I was just going to hold her captive and marry her when she's older. But now? I'll capture her again. And I will make her pay. And pay she will. Everyone she holds dear will suffer, her family, friends, everyone!" he finished with a crazed cackle.

It was at that moment when the kick finally collided with his face and he fell to the ground with a thud.

The girl in the brown jumpsuit glanced towards her, eyebrows raised beneath her mask. Sensing her expression she replied with a shrug, "I told him not to speak unless spoken to."

Her partner just nodded and said, "Yeah, he was annoying."

They got into their cars where the now conscious girls were and sped off in an unknown direction. Soon they reached a place where a helicopter was waiting for them. Getting inside, the now unmasked girls flew off towards Geum mansion. As they traveled through the air, the rescuers and the rescued spoke with one another.

"Navya, Jae kyung-ah... thanks a lot for today.." Jan-di began but she was interrupted by Navya before she could complete her sentence.

"We weren't going to leave you too with that psycho there Jan di-ah,"

"We have to be more careful from now on though, although Alex Hawk was a fool, his family won't be like that." stated Ga Eul, the unfortunate friend that had been kidnapped alongside Jan-di.

"You are right Ga eul-ah," Jan di and Navya replied at the same time.

"I'm just glad both of you are ok and that fool didn't do any damage." Jae kyung replied. "Can you believe he was actually sleeping when we got you two out of there?" she asked with snort.

"He's the black sheep of the family, Jae kyung-ah, but his family didn't gain their reputation for nothing." Navya replied in a serious voice.

They reached Geum mansion in record time, where all their family members, along with Jan di's waited for them. Jan di's mother ran towards them when the helicopter landed, hugging Jan di tightly, with tears in her eyes, "Oh Jan di-ah, thank god you are alright. I was so scared for you and Ga eul." Then she turned to Ga eul and hugged her just as tightly. Soon she had all her girls in tight group hug.

Ga eul's parents were there as well, but maintained their distance. They always believed that being too much associated with other girls was not good for her, even if said girls were heiresses and just as wealthy as their daughter. But their daughter was too stubborn for her own good. They went inside the mansion afterwards, still tearful. The girls explained what had happened and at the conclusion, the best course of action for everyone involved was decided.

The four girls had been best friends, sisters in arms, ever since they could remember. But it was time for them to go their separate ways for a while. Despite the difficulty the physical distance between them, even while they would still be in constant contact, they knew that this was what needed to be done.

They just realized that, sometimes you have to do what's best for everyone instead of what you want. Though that didn't stop them from growing closer than ever before. Although their meet ups were always using their alias, so no one would be able to recognize them and only for undercover missions, it didn't decrease their adventures being infamous vixens, one of the most feared groups in the underworld.

* * *

A/N: Song Navya is my OC, who is best friends with Geum Jan di, Chu Ga eul and Ha Jae Kyung. She's half Korean and half Indian. Also, She's Song Woo Bin's cousin, I.e. daughter of his father's brother.

This is AU where Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul's background is quite different than what we know from drama. More details about Song Navya and other girls would be revealed as the story progresses!

Thank you kyliEisMC2 for agreeing to be my beta for this story.

Thank you all for reading this story and I hope you all enjoy reading!

Let me know your opinions regarding this story in reviews.

~Crazydreamer33


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**_Present day, Seoul_**.

Shinhwa group of industries was the new hot topic of discussion in common folk as according to rumors, it was going to be one of the sponsors for the upcoming Olympics. It was a big deal for everyone as the whole world was facing a global economic crisis and a Korean group was stepping forward in such a state on a global platform. It was a matter of national pride. Shinhwa group was known in Korea for its many ventures. The whole market was captured by Shinhwa group, whether it be supermarkets, petroleum, automobile or even technology, Shinhwa was the uncrowned king of Korea's markets and it was well liked by the general population as well.

Shinhwa was also famous for its educational facilities. The chairperson of Shinhwa group built it with special permission and help from the president of that time, making it one of the most prestigious institutions in the whole of Korea. It was where only the rich, and even then only 1% of rich, could get admission. Whether it be kindergarten or high school, they were unparalleled by any other. Quality of Shinhwa's education was considered on such a supreme level that its graduates didn't even have to appear for various entrance exams that were necessary for normal, or rather commoner kids, as Shinhwa kids were considered royalty there.

It was a warm monday morning in Seoul. Birds were chirping, kids were rushing off to school, local businesses were flourishing with activities, everything was good. Geum Jan di was one such girl in her late teens who was rushing off to deliver dry cleaned clothes along with her friend Chu Ga eul. Currently they were on their way to Shinhwa high school, the supposedly most prestigious high school in all of Korea. It almost made the two friends roll their eyes, it was more like a place for rich, spoiled brats to show off their wealth. Both would've been surprised to know just how correct they actually were. It was their last delivery before rushing off to their own high school.

On Shinhwa campus, normal activities and classes were going on as usual. That is until a particularly unlucky student, Lee Min ha, opened his locker door, where, sticking out like a sore thumb, was a red colored card, which had f4 written on it. His body began to shake and dread poured down his spine as he looked at the card fearfully, understanding the implication of such a thing. Turning around to the hallway it was clear to see that those around him also understood what such a card signified as they looked hungrily at him like a pack of wolves. They began to circle around him like a group of vultures gathering around a dead carcass. It was then that he started running for his life.

* * *

Both Ga eul and Jan di reached Shinhwa's entrance on their bicycles. Jan di started going through the gate, but Ga eul had stopped behind. She turned around to see why and saw a security guard had halted her. And thankfully not a second later as she would have collided with the automated barriers on the school gate. She turned back, giving the security guard a sheepish smile. Ga eul was clearly amused from her expression.

"Who do you need to see?" the security guard asked.

"We are here for a dry cleaning delivery," she replied.

The security guard nodded and waved for them to go inside.

"Not used to all this hassle normal people have to go through yet, Jan di ah?" Ga eul asked with an amused smile when they were out of earshot.

"No Ga eul-ah, it isn't odd now, but it still slips my mind that we have to go through such things so many times. Especially to enter a special school for spoiled brats!" she exclaimed. Ga eul just patted her head in mock sympathy, which just made Jan di scowl.

"Who do you think would've sent clothes for dry cleaning though?" Ga eul wondered. That thought had crossed Jan di's mind before, as she doubted kids at Shinhwa wear one article of clothing enough times for it to be dry cleaned, even if it's a simple uniform.

"Let's find out," She replied.

They wandered around the school in hopes of finding their customer. As they further explored Shinhwa, it seemed to resemble some five star hotel more than a school.

"Is this even a school?' Ga eul wondered.

"Yeah, school for the super spoiled," Jan di replied with an eye roll.

Both Jan di and Ga eul had wealthy childhoods, so the atmosphere didn't really surprise them. It was more like a long due reality check for them, as they understood better than anyone else, what appears beautiful from outside doesn't necessarily have to be beautiful from inside as well. They knew the ups and downs of high class society like the back of their hands. They grew up in this world and the commoner life they were leading now was a pleasant break for them. It took them away from all the dirty politics, away from unnecessary show off. They didn't really mind a life of materialistic comfort, but it wasn't necessary for them either. They were very much aware that every kind of lifestyle has its own ups and downs and right now, working hard for living was what they preferred. Their only regret was not having their sisters with them, but they were sure all of them would be together again. And hopefully that day would be over the horizon soon.

While searching for their customer, they came near a crowded spot. They decided to go near and inspect what caught the crowd's attention. They heard people murmuring and looked up to see the person they were searching for on the rooftop, about to jump down. Jan di shared an alarmed glance with Ga eul and both of them rushed towards that rooftop. Students from the same school were surrounding him, but no one even tried to stop him. Jan di signaled Ga eul to go from the other side and catch him quickly if he really tried to jump. Getting the signal, Ga eul nodded and went to his other side, while Jan di distracted him from jumping, with dry cleaning bills, discounts and such things.

"Why are you jumping down from here though?" Ga eul asked.

"You two are not from here, right?" he asked, instead of replying.

"No," Jan di replied.

"Have you ever heard about F4?" he asked, still staring ahead.

"F4?" "What is that?" both Ga eul and Jan di asked at the same time.

"It's someone you should never go against. They effectively make your life hell," he said with a tone of finality in his voice.

"What do you know about hell?" Jan di asked furiously.

Seeing her control slipping, Ga eul stepped in, "Ever heard about never ending applications and entrance exams that the outside world has to face?" She asked with contempt.

"What would you do if everyone in school turned against you?" he asked, finally looking at them.

"I would stand up to them. Bullies are the biggest cowards," Jan di replied.

"We would defend ourselves and our friends if such a thing ever happened to us," Ga eul replied firmly.

"Then your friends are very lucky to have two of you as friends," he replied before saying "Please send my dry cleaning bill to my family." And he jumped off.

Both Ga eul and Jan di were ready for this, they each grabbed one of his hands, preventing him from jumping down, and pulled him upwards. As they did cameras flashed as students below snapped pictures with their phones as they all witnessed the heroism of the two girls.

This particular event caused quite an uproar in Korean media, all positive PR they had was lost and people were now protesting against Shinhwa school, demanding a ban on school, saying it was just a school for rich, spoiled and violent bullies. This event also brought Jan di and Ga eul in media highlights as heroines who saved the day. New wonder women of Korea.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_**Present day, Mumbai, India**_.

Dawn was just breaking over the horizon. The whole city was getting ready for another busy day in life. Two people were enjoying a morning run near the sea, on Marine lines. Everyone around was busy doing their own things. The sun was just rising, and the pair stopped running to observe the beautiful scene in front of them.

"I'll never get used to this big brother, no matter how many times I see this scene." The first person said the second.

He smiled wishfully before saying, "You rarely ever see it Navya, I've seen it countless times and it's still mesmerizing for me."

"I don't think it'll ever lose its charm Jay," Navya replied with a wide grin.

He smiled at her, "No, it won't," he replied happily, enjoying every second with the girl he considered as his little sister.

Jay Desai and Song Navya, were cousins, but she was closer to being a sister to him. Although they had a few years of age gap, they grew closer over the years as she visited during summers with her mother when they were younger. Like any brother, he loved spoiling her, was always teasing her, making fun of her looks even though she was one of the most beautiful young women he'd come across, and he came across quite a few beautiful women in his time. Being a CEO of one of the most successful companies around did that. And he was immensely proud of his sister as well. He knew she didn't have the easiest time managing her life. Going back and forth between the USA, India and South Korea all the time to manage business, taking over her father's position after his death, going through a car accident that put her mother in a coma, helping him out whenever she could. She even managed and constantly updated company server firewalls and such, keeping them protected. She was best in hacking and also knew how to keep hackers out better than anyone, being one herself. She was also helping the government in making their sites more secure. And despite everything, here she was still standing beside him, enjoying the sunrise in front of them. He just wished she could enjoy her life like normal kids of her age, going to high school, having fun. Which was why he was insisting on her completing her formal education, even though he knew she gave most postgraduates a run for their money.

"Let's go home kiddo, we have to go to the office as well, and grandma must be wondering how we are not home yet," he told her.

Both of them were living with their grandmother on her insistence, she was the only parental figure left in his life, and he enjoyed taking care of her. Her cooking was just an added bonus for him. Both cousins loved food made by their grandmother, she even taught them how to make various dishes whenever she cooked. Although they have a chef in their house, their grandmother loved cooking, a passion her and Navya both shared.

Those two were the only remaining members of his family, and he'd long ago sworn to protect them with everything he had, even if he knew his sister was more than capable of protecting herself, and probably had more experience in fighting considering her line of work. But he was still her big brother, who could blame him for being protective? And she too understood his need of protecting her and her friends, who he'd also taken in as his sisters.

"Yeah, you are right brother. Let's go," she replied.

* * *

They went to the office after eating a delicious breakfast made by their grandmother.

"So, have you thought about where you want to complete your high school?" he asked her when they were in the car. She groaned, "Not again brother, you know I don't need formal high school education."

"But that doesn't mean you shouldn't get one kiddo," he replied.

"No I have not," she replied with huff.

Sensing the mood, he didn't press for more information, and focused on his laptop more, she too had her tablet out, doing something. Suddenly she whispered, "Oh my god!" he glanced toward her to see her staring at her tablet screen. She handed him her tablet before he could ask anything. What he saw on screen made him want to snort and cuss at the same time. Only those two could find trouble even while leading a normal life, he thought fondly.

"At least now you know in which high school you would be going," he said, trying to cheer her mood.

She stared back at him horrified for a moment, "Of course, now they need to bury this all, they'll force them to go there." She started typing furiously on her tablet, "I need to control this footage from spreading all over the world, it can't reach international media, good thing I had notification alert over Korean media…" she rambled on.

He just shrugged, and let her carry on with her work saying, "Let me know if you need anything."

"Yes, hand me your laptop," she commanded, now in work mode. He did so without any question, knowing she didn't have her laptop with her at that moment. She was done before they reached the office, handing him his laptop, she went away saying she had a call to make.

* * *

_**Same day, New York City, USA**_.

A girl was sleeping peacefully when her phone suddenly started to ring loudly. She was startled awake and fell down from her bed in a hurry. She groaned but finally managed to get to her phone and picked it up without even looking at caller id, already knowing who called her by sound of that particular ringtone.

"Yah Navya, do you have any idea what time it is here? I was asleep," she started, but was interrupted by a voice on the other line.

"Oh god, Jae kyung you fell down from bed, didn't you?" followed by giggling from the other side.

"How did you..?" she started, but then thought better of it. Her friends knew her better than she knew herself, finishing her sentence with "never mind" instead. "What's so important that you are calling in the middle of the night?" she asked.

"Check out the video I just sent you. But be careful, it cannot be leaked anywhere. Delete it after watching," she replied somberly.

"Alright, be on line," she replied, already fishing for her private messaging application, which was developed by Navya.

"Oh god, what are we going to do Navya?" she asked as soon as she finished watching the video.

"Well, how do you feel about finally finishing high school?" she asked instead.

"Sounds good." She replied, getting the message clearly. "Inform me when arrangements are done," knowing her friend would take care of all the necessities. "I'll get prepared to leave."

* * *

Navya entered her brother's office when she was done with the phone call. She went inside without knocking, knowing he won't mind, and sat in a chair beside him, setting up a video call on his laptop which was laying on the table while he was going through some paperback files.

"Hello?" a feminine sound was heard, he went beside her, thinking it might be one of her best friends. But the person in front of him was someone else entirely. He kept staring at them for a moment, before focusing on his sister.

"Hello Goo Jun hee unni!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"Navya, how are you dear? You are calling after a terribly long time! And where are you now?" Jun hee asked, noticing an unknown man beside her dear friend.

"Oh I'm in India right now, Meet my elder brother unnie*, Jay Desai. And bhaiyya* this is Goo Jun hee unni!" she introduced both, they exchanged pleasantries, before continuing conversation. "Unni, I just saw footage of two girls saving a boy on Shinhwa roof top….."

Whatever Jun hee was expecting, it certainly wasn't what Navya proposed, but she couldn't really object to her dear friend and her brother's best friend's cousin now, could she?

* * *

Bhaiyya*/Bhai - Elder brother in Hindi.

Unnie* - Older sister of female in Korean/ familiar elder woman.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**_Present day, Shinhwa high._**

As the new day arose, students of Shin-hwa high were busy gossiping about something or other, as classes had yet to begin. Each and every student of this high school was a very privileged individual, so their lifestyle and standard of living was definitely up to par. Whether it be newest fashion or technological advances, they were first benefactors of everything that had a noteworthy place in the market.

Even among these privileged students, four individuals were on the top of hierarchy, rulers of school, kings of Shinhwa. Shinhwa's very own F4. Four young adults who were heartthrobs of not just Shinhwa, but the whole Republic of Korea. They were equally popular among the general populace and media. Everyone either wanted to be them, or wanted to be with them. They had everything one could ever dream for. Money, power, multinational business empires, their own field of expertise they excelled in, popularity, rich family background, everything. You name it, they have it.

They had a strong grip over Korean media and the hearts of the public, especially the ladies. Everyone in Shinhwa envied them for their influence, which was unparalleled.

All students in high school were gathered around as three flashy lotus cars in Red, Orange and yellow color entered the premises. These cars were unique, custom made and the only lotus' on the whole campus, as they were the trademark of F4. No one was allowed to own a similar car, or anything similar that might belong to F4. And this unspoken order was followed undisputedly by everyone, after some lessons taught by F4 of course, such was their power.

To answer who exactly F4 were? F4 were members of the four most influential families in the country. Heirs to four largest empires in the world, all leading names in their respective fields.

Their leader, Gu Jun Pyo, was heir to the Shinhwa Empire itself. One of the most brilliant people alive, future head of Shinhwa, and trained for business management and dealing with people of every sort from a young age. An extremely proud, equally rich and good looking individual. No one in the whole nation was richer than him. Though he did have a temper to match the size of his empire. He was quick to anger, and showed no mercy to victims of his ire.

Then second one of them was Yoon Ji hoo, Grandson of former president of the Republic of Korea, owner of the most popular museum of the Republic of Korea, and also a musical prodigy. He was known as the white prince of F4, devilishly handsome, and known for his silently mysterious, albeit cold, personality.

The third member of F4 was Korea's Casanova, So Yi jeong. The most popular among ladies and equally known for his families art museums and talent with pottery. He possessed the ability to charm any person with a simple smile.

And last but not the least, Song Woo bin. The Don Juan of F4, or Prince Song as he was known in the underworld. Heir to the Song family, who were technically Construction Company, but were popularly known as the Song clan, uncrowned rulers of the Korean underworld. Even the darkest criminal feared their name, and the song prince lived up to his family's reputation. No one was stupid enough to cross him. Ever.

Alone, any one of these individuals were powerful. But together, they were unstoppable. A true force to be reckoned with. They had looks, money, power, influence, everything. They had every aspect of the economy covered among the four of them in the Republic of Korea.

Anyone who dared to cross them, was either very brave or very foolish. Or in the smallest of chances, equally powerful as them, but there wasn't anyone with nearly that much power or influence, was there? Those who were foolish enough to go against them, were silenced by their own peers. Even teachers were afraid of them, so no one could really do anything to oppose them.

These four guys were rulers of Shinhwa, and Shinhwa was their territory. They acted as they pleased on their land. After all, the rules of the land are to be followed by everyone, right? And as this land was theirs, they were rule makers. No questions asked.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_**Present day, Shinhwa HQ**_

''Do you know why the public's opinion is so frightening, Secretary Jung? Because they are ignorant. Masses are often mindless, moving like sheep, one after another..." Explained the calm voice of Kang hu joo, CEO of Shinhwa group of industries. "We have to get this situation with those girls under control as soon as possible," she mused.

"What should we do madam?" Mr. Jung asked in an extremely composed and calm voice.

"We are offering those girls scholarships to attend the school. They're commoners, it'll calm public outrage and also result in positive PR for us," she replied.

"As you wish madam, all arrangements would be made and starting tomorrow, they will be in attendance to our school," Mr Jung stated, taking silent permission to leave.

•••

That evening, Geum Jan di and Ga eul were returning home, tired and exhausted from work at the porridge shop. Usually work wasn't as taxing but it was an unusually busy day. There had been a high volume of customers and being the only waitresses, they had a lot of work to do. Although they had to work hard, both of them were pleased with their lives...

"We're back.." Jan di announce before going to freshen up. Soon everyone was sitting at the dinner table. "Jan di, Ga eul... We need to discuss something important with you," Jan di's father started...

"What is it dad?" Asked Jan do, looking concerned.

"We got a visit from Mr. Jung, the Secretary of Shinhwa head office today..." Her mother said.

"Shinhwa group is offering you both scholarships to attend Shinhwa highschool," her father explained further, a sad note in his voice.

"We're not attending uncle," Ga eul exclaimed, her hands folded near her chest and her stance screaming finality of her decision.

"We don't think that would be a good idea Ga eul... We want what's best for you both girls, and although it's not possible for us to provide better education to both of you, under normal circumstances, that's where you would have gone to school." Jan di's father explained in a wary voice.

"It would be a nice change for both of you girls-" Her mother started.

"No, it won't be mom! We all know everyone there is an absolute snob! We saw the condition of that boy before he tried to jump. And we would be outsiders there... mom, you know what people can do to those who are considered as outsiders," Jan do exclaimed.

"So you're afraid then?" Her mother challenged, knowing exactly what buttons to push to get her daughters to agree to something.

"No, that's not the case auntie!" Ga eul exclaimed.

"Oh? Then do explain what exactly the case is," her father said in a deadpan voice. "We vowed to act in your best interests when we adopted you Ga eul. We want what is best for you both and this indeed seems the best option for now," her further explained.

"Besides if two commoners refuse such an invitation, that's going to look extremely suspicious girls," the matron of the family said, doing the trick. Because no matter what, they couldn't risk the safety their disguise as commoners provided.

•••

"I can't believe we're agreeing with this craziness Ga eul ah..." Jan di exclaimed, once both of them were back in their room, getting ready for bed.

"Neither can I, Jan di ah..." Ga eul replied with a disappointed sigh.

Both of them were lost in thought when Jan di got up excitedly. "Ga eul.. If we have to do this then what do you think about breaking the status quo in this school and introducing new equations to these brats?"

"What do you have in mind Jan di ah?" She asked, definitely interested in what her friend and adoptive sister had in mind.

"I have zero interest in getting involved with these people, but we can't ignore bullying in front of our eyes either... And more than that, I refuse to get bored out of my mind sitting with all those snobs... So let's shake their world up girl!" She replied with a wicked grin on her face.

•••

The next day came too fast for the girls' liking. Everyone was having breakfast when Jan di said, "Dad, would do you mind dropping us off at school?"

"Not at all princess," her father replied without a second thought.

"Thanks Dad! We'll get ready in a bit," Jan di replied before going off towards her room and dragging Ga eul with her.

"Jan di ah, what's up with you? And why did you ask uncle to drop us off? If he's going to drop us then all of us would have to go in..." She paused abruptly. "Oh.. Ohhh.. Is this your plan Jan di ah?" She exclaimed.

Jan di waited patiently knowing her friend was connecting the dots together in her head, and replied affirmatively with movement of head when question came, along with packing their school bag at the same time.

Finally she replied, "Yes! Now get ready, I don't want dad to back off!"

•••

"Dad! Come on let's go!" Jan di yelled, standing outside the gate of their house along with Ga eul, waiting for her father to appear.

He came in their dry cleaning van, which was the only vehicle able to carry more than one person at once, currently in possession of family.

"Jan di, are you sure you want me to drop you off? I'd forgotten we didn't have a car here when I said yes during breakfast..." Her father said skeptically.

"Yes I'm absolutely certain, now let's go!" She exclaimed before sitting in the front seat of the van. Ga eul too got inside the van and they went off towards Shinhwa high.

As the van entered the premises of the highschool after the mandatory security check, Jan di started the loudspeaker attached to the van that advertised a dry cleaning business.

"What are you doing Jan di ah?" Her father exclaimed, shocked.

"Just greeting all these brats dad. If I have to be here then I'm going to enjoy myself at least," she said, before getting out of the van, along with Ga eul.

"Don't over do it girls..." Her father muttered underneath his breath before turning the advertisement off and going back home.

•••

As she'd expected, everyone was watching both of them when they exited the van, and were busy whispering among themselves.

"You think we can piss all of them off before the end of the day?" Ga eul asked, amused.

"We can certainly try," Jan di replied, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Well at least you get a pool and I get unlimited painting supplies! Being here seems like a small penalty for that," she said as they entered the class.

Most of their classes were the same except for a few optionals such as painting and swimming.

As the day went on, they went their separate ways, Jan di in search of the swimming pool and Ga eul the art studio.

Jan di was roaming around in woods, in search of a pool, but not exactly in a hurry to find one. Enjoying herself in the calmness of woods, relishing in her love for nature, she came across a beautiful, yet sad melody of a violin. Her feet pulled her towards the source of the melody. She soon found the producer of such a somber song.

A white clad teenager around her age, who was also extremely handsome with his straight golden brown hair, was playing the violin in the middle of the woods. Under normal circumstances, she would've snorted at sheer likelihood of finding someone else she knew, but perhaps with a different instrument. But she was so mesmerised by the melody that she didn't make a single sound, too absorbed in the music and afraid of disturbing his concentration.

Finally his bow struck the last notes and he, along with Jan di, opened his eyes. Jan di gave a short applause without even realising it, saying, "That was beautiful."

He just stared at her. Expecting some sort of acknowledgement and only getting a constant stare in return, she got a bit uncomfortable and asked, "Um, I'm looking for a pool, would you mind telling me where it is?" She emphasized her question with raised eyebrows.

He just raised a finger in direction without saying anything, which annoyed Jan di a little as she'd gotten used to friendly behavior of the middle class and poor people and had almost forgotten people could be so arrogant.

"Arrogant snob," she muttered underneath her breath as she walked in the direction pointed to her. Soon she found the pool and exhaled a sigh of relief.

At least he wasn't a liar, she thought to herself, before diving in the pool.

•••

Ga eul was heading towards the gym where she was going to meet Jan di. She was already in her gym clothes when she got there. She was apparently first to arrive as no one was around. Taking in her surroundings, she decided she could do with few early minutes before anyone else arrived.

Doing a quick warm up, she headed towards the hitting bag, punching and kicking it in quick succession. All the while changing her stance and moving on her feet constantly to gain speed.

A guy with reddish brown hair, wearing a leather jacket, who had been sitting out of sight in the shadows, noticed her working out on a punching bag and decided to approach her. Something he should've thought better of considering his experience, yet thinking of her as a mere girl to poke fun of, he snuck up on her.

As he was about to put a hand on her shoulder, she turned around. Catching his hand, she twisted it around her shoulder, and moved to slam him down on his back. He was able to get his balance before hitting the ground, and quickly got up, all the while maintaining perfect grace and composure.

"Oh my.. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to do that, but you shouldn't sneak up on people," she said.

"I was just going to say hi woman! Are you crazy?" He exclaimed.

"Hey I said I'm sorry, besides you should know better than to sneak up on people, especially when they are working out on a punching bag! If I'm crazy then what are you? Stupid?" She said with narrowed eyes.

He stared at her, before shaking his head and walking off, deep in thought.

"Huh? Weird guy..." She muttered underneath her breath when Jan di's voice called out to her. Turning around to see her best friend standing near other students, she went to her.

•••

Lunch arrived soon enough. Both girls had home cooked dosiraks* with them, which according to them were much better and healthier than fancy cafeteria food. They were sitting at a table when three girls approached them.

"So, you both are those commoners right?" asked one of them.

"Oh my god! This is the first time I'm seeing commoners," another one of them exclaimed loudly.

Their absurdity was enough to make anyone laugh, but Jan di and Ga eul controlled each and everyone of their facial muscles to stop themselves from laughing.

Suddenly Ga eul got up and did a perfect imitation of a girl who'd spoken before, said, "Oh my god! This really isn't first time I'm seeing a bimbo"

Everyone who heard this remark laughed out aloud, but were soon quitend with glare by the trio.

"You consider yourselves smart huh? Keep it leashed or you will regret it." The third one among them said, continuing with, "I'm Ginger! This is Sunny and Miranda"

This, followed by excited proclamations of Sunny and Miranda saying they were queen bees of Shinhwa made an amusing show for Jan di and Ga eul.

Controlling her laughter, Jan di replied, "Well, miss bees, we don't consider ourselves smart..."

Ginger tried to interrupt her but Ga eul cut her off saying, "We are smart. And mind your own business or you will regret it." She finished her sentence with glare.

Ginger, Sunny and Miranda, not used to being stood up to, took their leave with as much grace as they could, which admittedly wasn't much.

A girl with black curly hair and a dimpled smile approached them soon after the trio went away.

"That was just awesome!" The newcomer exclaimed. "Hello! I'm Oh Min ji!I'm not like them! I don't like them either. I'm new here as well, recently transferred from Germany," when she saw a skeptical look directed towards her on Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul's face.

Jan di and Ga eul smiled at this thinking perhaps not everyone's bad, and asked her to join them.

•••

Lunch hour was over and everyone was heading towards respective lecture halls when a crowd of students gathered near the entrance of the building. Everyone was whispering among themselves excitedly, when a group of four students, who were most noticeably, not wearing uniforms entered the hallway. Everyone seemed focused on them.

Jan di and Ga eul were walking towards the classroom when they noticed their entrance. Wanting to see why everyone was crowding around them, they waited around.

The group came to a stop when a girl approached them with a cake in her hands. One of the boys, with an aura of being the leader, stepped forward. Not a single curled hair was out of place which gave a polished look to go with his tailored black suit. He came to a stop just before her and to everyone's great surprise, he took the offered cake from her hands.

Ga eul and Jan di were thinking again that not everyone was bad indeed, when he slammed that cake on poor girl's faces, to their shock and disappointment. That was when both of them noticed the guys they'd encountered a few hours before. That poor girl went off crying, soon everyone went on their own ways, but they were approached by Ginger, Miranda and Sunny again.

"See them commoners? They are kings of this place. Flower boys or F4 as everyone calls them," Ginger said, smugly.

"Oh, so they are king bullies of this school!" Jan di exclaimed.

"Take care how you speak of them commoner, you're not even worthy of saying their names!" Ginger fumed before storming off.

"Are those girls for real?" Jan di asked with disbelief.

Ga eul snorted at this before saying, "are you surprised?"

To which Jan di replied with a shrug, realising she was not at all surprised at their behaviour.

•••

Classes were over for the day and both girls had some time before they had to go to the porridge shop. So they decided to celebrate their new friendship with Oh Min ji with a treat of ice cream. All three of them were goofing around when Min ji suddenly slipped, and fell down. Which was unfortunate as her spilled ice cream landed on a pristine pair of leather shoes. To her horror, Oh Min ji looked up to see who the shoe belonged to. Goo Jun pyo, who had been passing through with his friends, glared down at her. Among his friends, Jan di and Ga eul again instantly recognized two members of his posse.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to..." Min ji apologized, on the verge of tears.

"Your apology is not going to clean my shoes," he replied in a cold voice.

"I'm really sorry! I'll pay for it.. Whatever I can.. Please forgive me." She pleaded.

"Lick it off," he said.

Jan di and Ga eul stared at him in absolute disbelief. This was a new level of arrogance, even for them.

"Hey, she didn't do it purposefully, and she's already apologized. This is a violation of her dignity," Ga eul defended her.

"And who are you? And just why are you putting your nose where it doesn't belong?" He asked snidely.

"We are her friends, but I don't suppose you even know the meaning of that word now do you Mr. Rich, spoiled and arrogant?" Jan di asked.

"Do you even know the cost of these shoes, bugs?" Goo jun pyo asked all of them in general.

"Why? Is Shinhwa going bankrupt? Can't even afford a pair of shoes anymore?" Jan di asked with an innocent face.

Goo jun pyo's face twisted in an angry scowl. "So, you are her friends huh? Why don't one of you lick it off then?" He asked with a smirk.

Jan di and Ga eul shared a look, smirks playing off on their lips.

Jan di stepped forward, bending down towards his shoes. He had a smug and satisfied look on his face as she lowered herself. But it did not last long when she straightened up, smashing her ice cream on his face to everyone's shock.

"Oh and if the cost of shoes become too much, send them to this address, you will get affordable dry cleaning services," she said with the same innocent look on her face. Looking him in the eyes, she threw a dry cleaners visiting card in his face and walked off with others.

As soon as they were alone and out of sight, controlling their laughter was no longer possible for them.

* * *

Dosiraks* - Lunch boxes in South Korea.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_**Present day, Seoul**_.

The first day of school went better than either Ga eul or Jan di were expecting, as their resolve to stand up against bullying began with a good start.

But the same could not be said for Gu Jun Pyo, heir of the Shinhwa empire. For the first time in his life, someone had dared to defy his order. No one could dare to disobey him and yet a commoner did it without even second thought. That commoner dry cleaner and her friend. It was beyond his comprehension. Everyone around him had only fawned over him ever since he was born, not even his parents rebuked him. The closest anyone had ever gotten was perhaps his noona, and his F4 friends. But his noona was not like everyone, she was different than others. And the F4 were like family to him, perhaps more than his real family and they never went against his direct orders publicly. How could dry cleaner be so stupid? He was Gu Jun Pyo, did she have no self preservation?

He was throwing darts in the F4 lounge. Only three of them, Gu Jun Pyo, So Yi Jung and Song Woo Bin were present in the lounge, strangely without any female guests. Yoon Ji hoo was probably sleeping somewhere or playing some musical instrument, which was usual for him. So the atmosphere was unusually quiet in the F4 lounge.

So Yi Jung and Song Woo Bin, who were playing snooker to entertain themselves, noticed their leader's disturbed state of mind more than once.

"What's up with him? I don't think I've ever seen him so disturbed…" asked Woo bin.

"I'm not sure, but it might have something to do with the new girl in school, that ice cream one…" So Yi Jung answered while bending down to aim, with the cue stick in his hands, he kept his eyes focused on the target in front of him and took a shot. Predictably, the ball went straight into the pocket.

"Yi Jung ah, something is odd with those two. They seem awfully familiar somehow and the way long haired one fights, it's almost like…" he trailed off saying the last sentence in an almost inaudible voice and glanced away, deep in thought.

Yi Jung glanced up at this, "They are just commoners Woo Bin ah, I don't think they can be harmful to us in any way, but it won't hurt to run a background check on them either."

"I already have my men on it," he replied.

"And why do you know anything about the way she fights?" Yi Jung asked with a teasing smile and raised eyebrow.

"I saw her practicing in the gym today, she managed to catch me off guard," he said in a serious voice.

Yi Jung stopped playing and stood up straight to look at his friend, shocked. Both of them knew it was almost impossible to catch any of them off guard when it comes to combat. All the training Woo bin's father and uncle put them through since their childhood ensured that. And Woo Bin was more proficient than the rest of them, so when he said they seemed odd, he believed him without a second thought.

"We have to do something about him though, it's getting boring without Jun Pyo's regular drama…" Woo Bin signed.

"You focus on getting their background checked, I'll focus on ensuring entertainment for us." Yi Jung replied with a smile before heading towards Gu Jun Pyo.

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about where this is going…" Woo Bin muttered underneath his breath before letting out a sigh and taking his phone out, which had started ringing.

"Gu Jun Pyo…" called Yi Jung, "What's wrong man? You seem disturbed somehow."

Jun Pyo sighed, "It's that dry cleaner and her friend Yi Jung ah, they need to learn their place."

"You are worrying too much about this Jun Pyo, just deal with them the way we've dealt with others," he replied, "but her friend didn't really do anything, did she?" He added.

"She talked back to me," Jun Pyo stated as though it was an offence deserving of great punishment.

"Well still she hasn't done any harm to you." He pushed.

"I guess you are right, but that dry cleaner is going to pay for this." Jun pyo said with a large grin and scary twinkle in his eyes.

* * *

_**Same day, Seoul airport**_.

As the private jet belonging to the Ha family landed on the runway of the airport, heiress of the Ha empire, Ha Jae Kyung and Princess of Song clan, Song Navya exited the jet. The whole airport was evacuated a couple of hours before their arrival, with all other flights delayed. As they reached the exit gate of the airport, two Porsche 911's were waiting for them outside, one a matte black and the other grey. Men in black suits were moving all around them, ensuing their safety. Guards handed them keys and both girls sped off towards their destination.

Turning on the inbuilt communication system in her grey Porsche, Jae Kyung called Navya. "Was all that hustle really necessary?" She asked, annoyance clear in her voice.

"It's not like any of that was in my control Jae, grandfather insisted on it. I couldn't disobey him, although I did make my dislike about having excess security clear," She replied with a sigh.

"I still don't get why he insists on excess security measures, it's not like we need protection or your people are not already on guard," Jae Kyung huffed.

They reached Song mansion before twilight. As they entered the house, the family's long trusted butler Mr. Lee greeted them.

"Welcome back Miss Song, Miss Ha. Your grandfather is waiting for both of you in his study." He said before leading them towards the study of the Song clan's leader.

Grandfather Song was facing the wall, sitting on his chair, his back towards the entrance of study. His study was brightly lit and comfortable, surrounded by various types of books, a large table in front of his chair with a few trinkets and photo frames containing images of himself with both his grandchildren, their friends and other family members.

Mr. Lee announced their entrance after knocking the door. Both girls bowed to him in greeting as Mr. Lee left.

He turned to face them. "Take a seat girls," he said in a commanding voice.

Both of them obeyed. "Now that both of you are here, in one piece, would you care to tell me what's the reason for your sudden visit here? And this time I want the whole truth, Navya," he said, with a sharp glance in her direction. "Not that I'm not pleased to see you both, but you know how dangerous coming here could have been," he explained in a wary voice, rubbing his eyes with knuckles. His age clearly showing with worry lines under his eyes.

Navya sighed, before taking out a custom made smartphone out of her pocket. She played a video showing Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul saving a guy from committing suicide by preventing his jump from Shinhwa rooftop, and showed it to her grandfather.

"How did this video reach you two?" He asked sharply, "Didn't you place a monitoring system that scanned their facial features and blocked any footage with them from sharing on social media?"

"I did grandfather, but with so many other people in this video, my programming was automatically overridden. I also had alerts on Korean media, making sure not even their names would leave Korean cyberspace, but it was programmed to send me any footage concerning them, which is why this video alerted my systems," Navya replied. "I had to manually block it, before it could spread all over the world."

"You know how all big firms work Mr. Song, they would take the easy way out by forcing Jan di and Ga eul to attend Shinhwa, instead of actually implementing any reforms," Jae Kyung said in a quiet and confident voice. "We can't let them suffer because people think they're outsiders and don't belong with the rest of them."

Grandfather Song sighed, leaning back on his chair. "That's exactly what they did, girls."

"We're attending Shinhwa beginning tomorrow." Navya said, with finality.

From the first time since their arrival, a genuine smile appeared on his face. "I think that would be beneficial for all Navya." He said with a pleased smile on his face.

"Wait, you're not worried?" Asked Jae kyung, surprised.

"Of course not! It would be much easier to protect all of you here than from the other end of the planet!" He replied, "I would say now would be a good time to let Woo bin in on this secret."

"No!" Both of them yelled at once. He noticed some strange emotions passing over Jae Kyung's face, but it was gone immediately.

Noticing his quizzical expression, Navya explained, "We do not want to let Woo Bin or his friends in on anything until they cease their bullying tendencies grandfather."

He smirked at this. "Then do try to make sure their bullying ceases. God knows it's about time they get their heads out of clouds and start acting like human beings." He continued after moments of silence from surprised girls, "Get settled you two, your training resumes from tomorrow."

"Mr. Song, I'm planning on living with Jan di's family…" Jae kyung stated, knowing well that if she mentioned anything about renting a flat, she'll be asked to stay in Song mansion, and then she won't have a choice to say no. Not that she had any problem with staying there, but avoiding a certain someone who lived in the same mansion as much as possible, was her first priority.

"Didn't I say Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul would be continuing their training as well?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, before dismissing both of them.

After freshening up and greeting Navya's Aunt and Uncle, both girls went to Jan di's house, a place where their hearts longed to be.

It was already quite late in the evening. Both girls went inside the house and greeted Jan di's surprised parents warmly.

"Oh dear, it's so nice to see you both again girls! When did you two arrive?" Asked Jan di's mother excitedly, rushing forward to embrace both girls.

"Just a few hours ago," Replied Navya.

"Where can I put my things auntie?" Asked Jae kyung, pointing towards her luggage.

"Didn't like Song mansion Ha Jae kyung?" Asked Jan di's father teasingly.

"Just missed all of you guys more," she replied cheekily.

"Place it in Ga eul's room, you two can share it," she replied affectionately. "Now go, both girls are upstairs."

Jan di and Ga eul were going through their homework, along with discussing all the happenings of the day when Navya and Jae kyung arrived in Jan di's room.

"Having fun without us guys?" Navya asked loudly, in a teasing voice to alert them about their presence. Their heads snapped towards the source of voice, and both Jan di and Ga eul started yelling excitedly. Surprised to see Jae kyung and Navya, they rushed forward to embrace them both. Soon four of them were in a group hug, their hearts overflowing with emotions.

Breaking apart to wipe tears of happiness away from her eyes, Jan di asked, "What are you two doing here?"

"Well, we couldn't exactly let you two have all the fun, could we?" Jae kyung replied with a large grin on her face. Everyone chuckled at this.

"So, are you going to tell us what happened or not?" Navya inquired.

Ga eul and Jan di repeated everything that happened during the whole day, although it was amusing at first, Navya and Jae kyung realised their decision to attend Shinhwa was the correct one.

Soon, Navya got up to leave saying, "I'll be here in morning to pick you all up, now I have to be at family dinner, grandfather's order. Oh and tomorrow morning, at 5 am, grandfather has ordered that we resume our training."

Everyone groaned at this. "Doesn't this girl ever get jet lag?" She heard while descending down the stairs, making her chuckle in amusement.

* * *

_**Dinner time, Song mansion**_.

Almost every member of the family was present to welcome her back, even her cousin Song Woo Bin, who was usually busy at night visiting various clubs around the city.

Grandfather Song arrived a couple of minutes before dinner was served. Everyone stood up to greet him. This was usual in Song household, all important bits of information were shared with family before the dinner by grandfather Song, which was why family dinner was an important thing for them.

"Today, we are celebrating the return of Song Navya, my precious grandchild, who has successfully managed everything regarding our family business almost single handedly, after the unfortunate passing of her father. From tomorrow onwards, she's going to attend Shinhwa highschool, along with my grandson, Song Woo bin." He stated in an authoritative voice. Everyone rejoiced after hearing this news. He continued, "She has already taken measures to ensure business in the States runs smoothly. Now both Song Woo Bin and Song Navya would start helping my son Song Mal chin with business here as part of their further training."

His last announcement came as a surprise to both Woo Bin and Navya. They would be expected to work together. Although they got along well enough, they had grown up as sort of competitors for each other. They knew each other's weakness and strengths but weren't close by any means. This was going to be hell for both of them. They shared a look, thinking the same thing. Little did they know that for the first time in their lives, they'd silently agreed on something, training was going to be miserable.

* * *

Thanks to kyliEisMC2 all previous chapters have been edited and updated!

Enjoy reading and let me know your opinions in reviews.

~Crazydreamer33


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_**The Next day, Song Mansion.**_

Dawn was about to break over the horizon. Song Woo bin and Song Navya were sleeping peacefully in their respective rooms, when two teams of few masked men, covered in black clothing from head to toe, entered their rooms.

In Navya's bedroom, the leader of the intruders signaled one of his men to turn on the lights. With bright lights glaring on her face, she woke up, but noticing something amiss she pretended to be asleep for a little while. As soon as the lights were on, the masked individuals went to grab the mattress on her bed, clearly intending to throw it off the bed along with herself. Sensing activity on both sides of her bed, she opened her eyes and noticed around eight men surrounding her, she immediately got up in standing position.

Doing a front flip to distract them along with getting out of bed, she got into a fighting stance the moment her feet touched the ground. Her room was large but due to all the furniture there wasn't enough space to fight off all of them without risking injury. Two of them attacked her at the same time. Pushing one of them back with a kick to the chest and knocking the other out with a powerful kick in his face, she dashed out of her room, with her attackers at her heels.

In Woo bin's room, all the masked men surrounded his bed, already in a fighting stance. One of them, who was closer to the bedside table, grabbed a jar of water placed there, and threw it's content on Woo bin's face, startling him awake. Quickly accessing the situation he was in, he got up from bed and took a fighting stance, waiting for them to attack first. Three men out of eight attacked him at the same time. He pushed one of them on the ground, punching the other in the gut and knocking the third one out by slamming him down on his head. Sensing others around him in the darkness of his room, he did a roundhouse kick to make sure no one was too close and ran towards the door of his room. The masked men followed closely behind.

Both of them reached the drawing room of the mansion around the same time, all the while defending themselves from attackers. Surprised to see each other in similar state, they realised the attack on them must have been set up by their grandfather. They nodded at each other and simultaneously ran towards the main gate of the house to fight outside. Soon they were standing back to back in the front lawn of Song mansion while masked attackers surrounded them from all sides.

After constant fighting for about half an hour, they stood separately among unconscious bodies of their attackers littering the ground around them. Song Woo bin's father Song Mal chin came into view as soon as the last man fell unconscious.

"That was good, kids, but there is a lot of room for improvement," he announced as soon as he was in hearing distance. Both were standing at attention, as such habits had been drilled into them since they were children.

"Did either of you think about working together instead of alone to fight them off?" He asked after a moment of silence. Both were indignant at hearing this.

"I don't need help," the pair announced simultaneously.

"Is that so?" Woo bin's father inquired in an amused voice, "then let's see how well you do against these balls on the running track, alone," he said, throwing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it.

They soon found themselves dodging and sprinting wildly as they did their best to avoid the tennis balls being hurled at them through the air. As they did, Song Mal chin watched the pair avoiding the tennis balls and occasionally getting hit by a particularly fast one, he remembered the conversation he had with his father after dinner last night.

* * *

_**The previous night, after dinner, The study room of Grandfather Song.**_

"Father, I'm afraid I do not understand what further training the kids are in need of," said Song Mal chin. "They already know almost everything."

Song Dae jung, patriarch of Song family, smiled at this. "Technically that might be true, son. But they still need to learn an important thing," he replied mysteriously.

"And what would that be father?" Song Mal chin, Woo bin's father and Navya's uncle asked.

"They know how to fight, how to survive, how to command and how to kill quickly or slowly depending on the need. But to thrive, they still need to know how to work together," Song Dae jung replied with a sigh.

* * *

_**Present day, Song mansion.**_

Both cousins were having breakfast in the parlour after their training session that morning. Set out before them, was a varied arrangement of cuisine.

Opting for a full English breakfast consisting of fried eggs, sausages, toast and coffee, Song Woo bin said, "So, you are coming with me today."

"I'm sorry? No I'm not. I've got a few things to take care of before going to school," Navya replied while sipping her tea, having prefered traditional korean breakfast, and slightly annoyed at his assuming tone.

He just shrugged. "Suit yourself. By the way, you are supposed to wear a uniform to school," he said, noticing her in a denim and leather jacket.

"Doesn't that go for you as well?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at his tailored armani suit.

"No it doesn't, not when you are one of F4," he said while getting up with a smirk on his lips.

"Let's see how long this attitude of fF4 lasts," she said in a challenging, yet quiet voice to herself, when he was out of earshot.

Soon both of them were off in different directions. Him in his yellow Lotus Elise, while she sped away in her matte black Porsche 911,the similar grey version following her behind.

Soon she reached Jan di's house, finding it in absolute disorder as they readied to leave. In the chaos, she greeted Jan di's parents before they left for work. Then immediately left herself as her friends had finished preparing for the day.

Navigating their way through the busy streets of Seoul, the two cars reached Shinhwa in record time. Seeing enough empty space to park two cars besides Woo bin's Lotus, they parked their cars there, as it was the nearest place available to entrance.

The population of Shinhwa's students were whispering among themselves about two new cars heading towards F4's parking area, and their whispers increased tenfold when they saw four girls exiting through those cars instead of the expected members of F4. Even more surprising, two of them were in casual clothes! No one besides F4 were allowed to come to school, without uniform.

As soon as the girls exited their cars, they were surrounded by angry students of Shinhwa.

"How dare you park your filthy cars in F4's parking area?" One of them shouted, giving courage to others for speaking out.

"Who the hell are you?" Another shout came.

"Excuse me? Those are the Porsche 911 you are talking about, crazy woman! Take care about how you speak of them!" Ha Jae kyung replied, offended on behalf of her car.

The other three girls threw amused glances in her way, knowing better than anyone else about her love for automobiles and mechanics.

"Does F4 have their names written here? Or are there any documents saying this parking space belongs to F4 only?" Asked Navya calmly.

"This whole school belongs to F4," another angry voice shouted.

"And not you? Isn't this school yours as well?" Asked Jan di, clearly amused.

"Well, just so you all know, as students here, this school is ours. If anyone has a problem with us parking cars in our schools parking lot, they may contact us with their legally appointed representatives and valid reasons for not parking cars here. And no, this is the place where the heir of the company that owns school parks his car is not a valid reason. Because this place is open for all students," Ga eul replied in an extremely formal way, effectively shutting everyone up.

They left the parking lot and went to their respective classes or to the principal's office afterwards. Everything was normal for girls besides some odd glances, furious whispers and a lot of the lunch hour arrived. All of them were sitting together for lunch when Oh Min ji arrived at their table. Upon her arrival, Ga eul and Jan di greeted her as she sat down. Oh Min ji.

"Omo, Geum Jan di! Chu ga eul! I was looking for you two," Min ji exclaimed.

"Oh, hey Min ji…" Jan di replied, trying to cease Min ji's obvious excitement.

"Who are your friends?" She asked, looking curiously at the two other girls.

"Navya" Navya replied curtly, without mentioning her family name.

Jae kyung, followed her lead and introduced herself as just, "Jae kyung." Smiling at the end, to make the new girl feel more comfortable.

"Jan di ah, do you think F4 are going to do something after yesterday's incidence?" She asked in a quiet voice, continuing in a similar tone, "everyone expected both of you would get the red card as soon as you opened your lockers, I'm glad that hasn't happened." Not knowing Jan di neither Ga eul had not opened their lockers since coming to school. All four girls shared an alarmed glance as they heard this, but avoided saying anything.

As the lunch hour progressed, Min ji noticed each girl wore a bracelet on their wrists which had the Song family crests engraved on them. "Can I see your bracelet Jan di ah?" she asked curiously.

Jan di just raised her hand a little bit, clearly reluctant to show the bracelet.

"Doesn't F4 wear similar bracelets on their wrists? I mean the symbols are clearly similar…" she trailed off.

"I don't know." Jan di replied, uncomfortable with answering.

"Where did you all get yours? If it's similar to F4 then I want one as well," she shouted excitedly, gathering the attention of everyone around them.

Having no intentions to discuss the bracelets with anyone, the four girls made their excuses and headed towards the locker room.

Knowing the probability of a red card being inside Jan di and Ga eul lockers, they released a sigh. Navya and Jae kyung stood besides them, encouraging them as much as possible. First Ga eul opened her locker, and let out a breath in relief. Shooting an encouraging glance towards Jan di, she smiled.

As Jan di was about to open her locker, Navya placed a hand on her arm, halting her movement. Taking out her throwing knife out from her shoes, she nodded.

"Paranoid much?" Jan di asked, trying to lighten up everyone's mood, and proceeded to open her locker.

Although there weren't many students around, the few who were, had their gaze locked on her every movement. Finally she opened her locker and sighed forlornly as she took out a red card from her locker which was covered in graffiti from inside. She glanced at her friends who were standing right beside her, when a notebook from her locker jumped to the ground, seemingly on its own. Navya placed a hand on her arm before she could move forward to catch the book, preventing her from going forward. Suddenly she threw a knife in her hands a few inches away from the book, cutting off almost invisible nylon thread which was responsible for moving the book. Grabbing the book she gave it back to Jan di.

"Let's see if students here have enough brain cells to know what's good for them," Jae kyung said in a grim voice.

The other three nodded, and went towards their next class. The bell had already rung and everyone was present in the classroom. Taking her phone out of her pocket, Navya started typing furiously, and placed it back in a couple of seconds. "The teacher won't be there in our next class," she announced.

They were clearly the last to enter the class. Navya, assuming her position as leader of the vixens, took the lead and calmly went inside the classroom, the others following closely behind. Looking every bit the cool and confident leader of a dangerous clan, she commanded the attention of the whole classroom, before sitting down on the table in front of the class. Her feet crossed, and her long curly black hair tied in a tight braid, with few loose strands framing her face. The leather jacket and denim she was wearing highlighted her figure, making her look even more deadlier. The other girls took station behind her.

She called out to everyone in the classroom saying, " Today, my friend Geum Jan di, found this card in her locker." Any other time, students would have eaten the person in front of them alive after such a declaration. But the girl in front of them was scary enough to force them to sit in their own places."This is my first and last warning to everyone in this school, and you guys will make sure it reaches them," she continued while sweeping her gaze on each and everyone of them. "Anyone and everyone who acts on this card, will suffer great consequences. Am I clear?"

"And who exactly are you to tell us what we should and shouldn't do?" Asked Ginger furiously.

Navya got up and moved towards where she was sitting, each of her steps were measured and calm. Taking out her phone, she clicked a picture of girl in question and turned slightly towards the projector screen in classroom, which was suddenly turned on, and was playing videos of Ginger breaking traffic signals, running her car into back of a taxi, arguing with police officer, dancing drunkenly in bar, hooking up with random guys… Ginger was completely red by this point, and shouted, "Stop! Please stop it." And all of a sudden screen went black again. Everyone was too shocked to react at this point.

"This was just a trailer Choi Jin hee, I can spread your secrets all over the media in less than one minute. All it would need is a single touch of my finger," she continued in a deadly calm voice. Addressing the whole classroom, she stated, "and this goes for everyone in this school. Anyone who dares to cross my word on this matter would be worrying about social degradation and bankruptcy before they could say Shinhwa." Striding towards the front of the classroom, she looked into the eye of each and every person sitting in the classroom, before saying, "And if that's not enough for some of you, crossing my command in this matter, would be going against the Song clan." Gasps were heard from all corners of the classroom at this statement. "I am Song Navya, or Princess Song as most of you have probably heard. Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul are under protection of my family." She said while raising her hand with a bracelet in the air for everyone to see, making sure everyone got her message clearly and no one would be able to ask about the validity of her claim.

"I second Princess Song's verdict." A masculine voice was heard, loud and clear, from the entrance of the classroom doorway.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"I second Princess Song's verdict." A masculine voice was heard, loud and clear, from the entrance of the classroom gate.

Navya and everyone else present in the classroom turned towards the source of voice to see Gu Jun pyo, along with the rest of the F4 members standing at the front of class. All of them looked bored from their expressions. Song Woo bin, Yoon Ji hoo and So Yi jung were standing around in the classroom idly, seemingly not interested in proceedings around them, when Gu Jun Pyo stepped forward, hand in his pockets, and his expression not betraying a single emotion.

He announced to the class, "Anyone going against Song Navya's orders would be going against F4 as well," while looking directly at her. She smirked as he continued, "as this is between F4 and..."

"Vixens," she supplied. Woo bin's sharp gaze caught her eyes and her smirk widened.

Jun pyo nodded towards her and continued, "and V4 from now on. Today, F4 is officially declaring that any issue between F4 and V4 is out of bounds for anyone besides members of these groups. And if anyone from this school is found knowingly interfering in any conflict concerning F4 or V4, they would be expelled from this school, as it would be considered as interference in F4's personal matters." He turned around to leave the classroom, with his friends on his heels, leaving the whole student body shocked beyond words.

Soon the four girls, newly named as V4, left the room to let the rumor mill of Shinhwa run its course.

* * *

_**A few hours ago.**_

Gu Jun Pyo arrived at school before many others that morning. He was sure, before the end of the day, that dry cleaner would be apologising for her mistakes, and he being a merciful soul, would graciously forgive her.

As he watched from the surveillance system in the lounge, the dry cleaner and her friend went about the school with two other girls, who were not wearing uniforms. Woo bin and Yi Jung were busy with something, while Ji hoo was asleep on the couch. Woo bin and Yi Jung soon came to see what was keeping him silent and stuck to the TV screen a couple of times, before going away.

The TV screen was showing the dry cleaner and her friend in their classes, and everything was seemingly normal. Soon the lunch hour arrived but the dry cleaner had still yet to open her locker. Jun pyo was getting bored. Why couldn't the dry cleaner just open her locker? Everything would have been much more entertaining if she had done it already.

Now the dry cleaner and her friend were sitting with the other two girls they had arrived to school with for lunch. When Woo bin joined him again. Sitting down, he asked, "what has kept you so occupied today Jun pyo?"

Jun pyo just shrugged, zooming in on dry cleaner and her friend when Woo bin started swearing, "Holy shit! Take it back Jun pyo!" He shouted, "Zoom in on those two girls!"

Amused by his weird reaction, he zoomed in on dry cleaner, thinking that's whom he was talking about. But then he shouted again, "Not those two Jun pyo, the other two who are sitting with them."

"Yah! Red card is given to the dry cleaner! Why do you want to focus on the other two? We will deal with their issue of not wearing uniforms once the dry cleaner opens her locker and gets the red card!"

All this commotion woke Ji hoo up, and he too came to sit with them along with Yi Jung to see why they were shouting.

Woo bin's horrified gaze turned from the TV towards Jun Pyo. "My cousin is one of those girls you pabo! And the other one…" he trailed off as he noticed Ha Jae kyung sitting with his cousin and commoners from the day before. "Hell no…" he muttered underneath his breath.

Catching the confused expressions on his friend's faces, he elaborated, "The one in Black leather jacket and denim jeans, with braided hair. That's Song Navya, or Princess Song, One of the most powerful leaders in my family and one of the most dangerous individuals on the planet. And somehow, Jun pyo's new target has managed to befriend her…." He zoomed the camera in on them when Jan di had raised her hand a little to show a bracelet on her wrist. "No, they are close enough that Navya has extended the same family protection over them that I have over you all!" He continued, pointing towards their own wrists.

"Who's that short haired one by the way?" Yi Jung asked, pointing towards Jae kyung.

Suddenly Woo bin's face turned stormy. "She's no one," he stated in a cold voice, his eyes not moving from the screen. Sensing something odd behind his friend's demeanor, Yi Jung decided to let it go and focus on matters in hand. Even Ji hoo, who was interested mostly in music and sleeping, seemed intrigued by this, while Jun pyo had a strange gleam in his eyes.

"Let's see what they do now," Jun Pyo exclaimed, watching them getting up and heading towards the locker room, giddy with excitement. They watched as Ga eul opened her locker first, followed by Jan di after she was stopped by Navya, who took out a throwing knife in her hands. 'Did she think someone would jump out at them from the locker?' Jun pyo thought, amused.

But her reason to do so soon became apparent when the notebook started moving, and she used it to cut off almost invisible thread tied to the book.

Then they saw all four girls heading towards the classroom. Watching her move was like watching a top predator moving towards its prey. They heard her voice clearly through the surveillance system in the classroom. They had grim looks on their face when they saw her dealing with Ginger, effectively shutting her up. But to their great surprise, she stopped the video playing on screen when Ginger pleaded. She had the whole room under her command within a few minutes.

Ji hoo asked all of a sudden, "Woo bin ah, when you said leader, what was that supposed to mean?"

Woo bin sighed at this, and replied, "When a person born in the Song family turns fifteen, we're given a few new recruits to train and command, as our men. We have liberty to expand the number of these recruits as we like but on our own, with the condition that our recruits should not be under Song family's employment already, everyone else is fair game. Their numbers keep growing with passing years, and once we have a respectable amount of men under our command, we're given the title of leader."

From expressions, it was clear none of them knew about this before. They started swarming him with questions all of sudden. "What do you mean one of the most powerful leaders? And what exactly is that respectable number?" Ji hoo asked, followed by Yi Jung asking, "Where was she all these years? How come we're only hearing about her after all these years?" "How did she manage to control school equipment and where did all those videos come from? Does she have power to actually do what she's saying?" The last question unsurprisingly came from Jun pyo.

Woo bin sat down with his head in his palms, and replied after letting out a sigh, "While a respectable number for our clan is around 500 members. She is uncle Song Min jun's daughter and his successor. She has her own team along with her father's people under her command, her network is spread largely over many parts of the world, and all of them are extremely loyal to her. She has thousands of men and women under her command! So of course she is one of the most powerful leaders in the history of our clan," he began, answering Ji hoo's question first.

He looked from Ji hoo to Yi Jung.

"Yi Jung ah, she was in many parts of the world as she grew up. And this really isn't the first time you're hearing about her, she was in Shinhwa kindergarten with us before going to states with her parents," he said in a deadpan voice.

And finally turning to Jun pyo, he said, "She's a hacker Jun pyo, controlling school equipment is not a big thing for her and that is how she got her hands on all those videos." He got up, and stood in front of the TV screen. "No one in my family claims we can do something unless we're really able to do it, Jun pyo, same goes for her as well."

The guys were surprised with all this information.

Suddenly Jun pyo got up with a smirk. "In that case, what are we doing here? Finally we have someone who can measure up with our power. And she's the one who's challenged F4's authority. Let's go and have some fun." he said, before heading out of the door.

Woo bin, Yi Jung and Ji hoo shared a look, and followed him.

* * *

_**Later that day, The Porridge shop.**_

All four girls, who were recently named V4 just hours earlier, were gathered together. Discussing the happenings of day along with helping Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul. They were sitting at the same table as they had free time due to lack of customers in the shop. All of them were now familiar with members of F4, along with all the information that was available on the internet about F4, their families and businesses.

"That curly head one is more intelligent than I gave him credit for," Jae kyung stated, turning her honey and nuts porridge around in a bowl with the spoon in her hand, her gaze fixed on her bowl.

"Of course he is Jae kyung ah, he has been training to take over Shinhwa since he was born." Ga eul replied, who was sitting besides Jae kyung, while looking at her. "But at least he got the students of Shinhwa off our backs," she continued.

"Yeah, but he has as good as declared war between F4 and us! God only knows what these guys would end up doing," Jae kyung replied, looking up.

"Today he effectively managed to reinstate himself and F4 on the top of Shinhwa's hierarchy by supporting Navya's order publicly. Now to Shinhwa's student population, there's no conflict between chain of command or confusion regarding whose order they should be following, as they are following the orders of their beloved Gu Jun pyo," Jan di said, folding her hands on top of the table and placing her head on her hands. Looking up, she turned towards Navya who was sitting on the chair adjacent to the wall, with her feet stretched out and crossed on the chair across from her, with her eyes closed. "Navya, were you high when you announced vixens as our name to the whole school?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

Opening her eyes, Navya turned towards her saying, "No one besides Woo bin knows who the vixens are Jan di ah, even if he connects the dots and concludes you and Ga eul are part of the original vixens, he won't be able to find anything about your true identities."

"Wouldn't it be dangerous though?" Asked Ga eul, biting her lips.

"Not really. In fact I want him to put two and two together and come to the conclusion that you are both vixens," Navya replied, closing her eyes.

"Now I'm absolutely sure, she has lost it completely. Song Navya has lost her mind due to her workaholic tendencies," Jan di stated in a deadpan voice.

"Or perhaps it's because of lack of proper sleep," Ga eul joined, in a teasing tone.

"Ha ha, very funny. But I haven't lost my mind. And No I'm not a workaholic. Nor do I have sleeping problems," she replied while putting her feet down and sitting straight.

Jan di and Ga eul just smirked at her, clearly not trusting a word she said.

Looking at their expressions, she turned to Jae Kyung, and said, "Tell them to stop teasing Jae kyung ah," her lips dangerously close to forming a pout.

Jae kyung replied, "She's right girls, she hasn't lost her mind-" and paused to see a smug smile on Navya's face before continuing. "At least not due to her workaholic tendencies or sleeping schedule. It could be because of not getting laid though," she suggested with a straight face.

Both Jan di and Ga eul burst out laughing as soon as they heard this. Jae kyung too wasn't able to control her laughter for long because of the expression on Navya's face.

Grabbing the salt container from the table, she threw it towards Jae kyung's face, who easily managed to dodge it.

"You better run Ha Jae kyung, if you value your life," Navya said, getting up, prompting Jae kyung to get up and move away. Jan di and Ga eul were chuckling at their antics, as both of them ran around in the porridge shop.

Finally Jan di stopped them, asking "Are you both done? Or should we get ourselves some popcorn to watch your Tom and Jerry chase?" And they came back to sit in their place.

"Now, would you mind explaining why you want your cousin to figure out we are the vixens?" Ga eul asked.

"Well, you know he won't be able to find out anything about your real identities. But if he figures out your involvement with the vixens, then both of you would get more freedom to act in the way you really do, instead of your commoner persona." Navya explained, "and he doesn't have access to your real documents! All your forged documents say both of you have grown up in Korea, and I was in Korea till kindergarten. That way we would be able to explain how we met if it comes to that."

"That might just work," Jan di stated, after thinking about what she said.

"But what about when he's let in on this secret?" Jae kyung asked, contemplatively., "You know he won't respond well to that. And you know your grandfather is going to insist on telling him everything sooner or later," she continued, looking straight at Navya.

"We don't have an option Jae kyung," she replied, taking Jae kyung's hand in hers in a comforting way.

"Besides, we're not exactly lying," Ga eul said, with a gentle smile.

* * *

Thank you for reviewing Maria Rosa cisi. I agree love and friendship are valuable feelings. As for why girls separated, you'd have to read further to find out!

And, thank you kyliEisMC2 for editing this story, I wouldn't have been able to complete half of what I've written without your help.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading this.

~Crazydreamer33

P.S.- Guys please review in english! My knowledge of language is fairly lacking hence I would appreciate reviews in english... :D


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_**The next day, F4 lounge**_.

Gu Jun Pyo, Yoon Ji hoo and So Yi Jung were anxiously waiting for Song Woo bin. It was the weekend, and no one was present in school besides F3. There was a pin drop silence in the F4 lounge, as Yoon Ji hoo and So Yi Jung were lost in thought, all the while, Gu Jun Pyo was pacing around.

The confrontation with the dry cleaner and Woo bin's cousin had shocked them. Until now, no one before them had ever dared to cross their word. And now, for the first time in their lives, their absolute rule over Shinhwa had been questioned. And not knowing much about their challengers and their associates, didn't sit well with them.

They looked up to see Woo bin arriving with few men wearing black suits around him. He nodded at his guards and they took station outside the lounge. As soon as Woo bin entered, Jun pyo asked impatiently, "Where were you for so long Woo bin ah?"

Looking towards their fearless leader and his lifelong friends, Woo bin sat down on the couch, handing them a file in his hands. He waited for them to look over the file, leaning back on the couch with his eyes closed.

"It says Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul have been here in Korea their whole lives! They've never once gone out of the country," Yi Jung said, surprised, as he looked up to see similar expressions on the faces of the other two.

"But then how do they know Woo bin's cousin," Jun pyo wondered.

"This is the only official information my men have been able to gather on two of them," Woo bin replied with a sigh.

"Official?" Asked Ji hoo with a raised eyebrow.

Woo bin nodded. "Well, why don't we go over what we know about them, officially and unofficially, and then formulate some conclusions," Yi Jung suggested, glancing through the file in his hands.

The others agreed, Woo bin got up and started pacing as he spoke, "Let's start with Geum Jan di then. She is the only biological daughter of her parents, who own a modest dry cleaning business. Her family is accommodating and friendly according to observations. She herself was a swimming champion in her old school. An average student by all means, with average grades. Nothing out of ordinary really. Kind Hearted and brave but short tempered and sometimes loud." He looked towards them, before continuing with, "Next we have Chu Ga eul, artist by the looks of it. Star painter of Seoul public highschool. She was adopted by the Geum family, but exact records of when or why the adoption happened were kept confidential. Not even my people were able to get those details. Abusive household perhaps? But there are no records of her birth parents to be found either. She too is a perfectly average student, with no records of ever getting in trouble. Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul have been together in the same school since they were in kindergarten, according to their records. She's also a skilled fighter, but there are no records of her ever enrolling for martial arts training. Both of them work at a porridge shop as waitresses. The surprising thing is, neither of them seems to have gotten in trouble before this, there's no records of them getting even a detention," he trailed off. "Something sounds fishy with this. There are way too many gaps in this story."

Yi Jung nodded. "According to what we've seen, neither of them are able to stay out of trouble. It's not in their nature to be quiet. And neither of them seem average in everything."

"Then there is Ha Jae kyung. Sole heiress of Ha empire," Woo bin continued in a colder voice than before, "which is one of the most successful groups in the states. They were established in oil production at first, later they entered into other sectors like energy and power, rapidly growing their net worth. Now they have a large chain of businesses under their command, making them one of the most well known groups in the world. She herself is also kind and brave, but quite a handful to get along with, and does not befriend anyone easily, so her friendship with those two is suspicious as well. Especially since she's familiar enough with both girls and their parents to be welcomed into their home, by that I mean she's staying with them," he explained as he saw Yi Jung ready to interrupt him with a question. He continued with, "She's someone who does something only because she wants to, no one can force her to do anything against her will," he finished with a ghost of a smile on his face.

"And last but not the least, your cousin," Ji hoo said, leaning back on the couch.

Nodding towards him, Woo bin continued.

"Her presence in Korea, along with Jae kyung's is most surprising. As you know, she's Uncle Min Jung and Aunt Maddie's only daughter. She was in Shinhwa with us till kindergarten. Soon afterwards, she went to the states with her parents, and she has taken up her father's position as head of the Song clan in the U.S. Along with that, she is the sole inheritor of her mother's fashion line. And she's also a partner in Indian software company named Desai Infra tech. She is fiercely loyal to her loved ones and the worst nightmare for her enemies. Apparently, she's also the leader of V4 as Jun pyo has dubbed them," he finished, making quotation marks in the air.

"You don't believe the stories of Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul are completely truthful," Jun pyo, who was unusually quiet during his explanation, concluded.

Nodding, Woo bin agreed. "There are few questions that remain unanswered. Like what are Ha Jae kyung and Song Navya doing here? Or how does Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul know either of them so well? And most importantly, why did she use the name vixens yesterday..." He trailed off with a look of serious and thoughtful expression on his face.

"What's so special with name vixens?" Yi Jung asked, a question that was on the forefront of everyone's mind.

Turning back, Woo bin explained, "The Vixens, is one of the most feared groups in the underworld. No one really knows who they are besides that there are four women in it. None of their victims saw their faces, but they are famous for their ruthlessness and effectiveness in carrying out their tasks."

"Do you think-?" Jun pyo asked sharply, and Woo bin nodded in agreement before he could complete his question.

"Think what?" Yi Jung asked.

"That the possibility of these four being the vixens is quite high," Jun pyo replied.

"But that seems illogical guys. You yourself said Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul have never been out of the country," Ji hoo said, not able to believe that conclusion fully.

"I agree with Ji hoo. And we don't really have enough information to conclude that for sure," Yi Jung stated.

"Despite everything, Navya is still my cousin Jun pyo, and I cannot and will not go against my cousin if you are thinking about waging war against her," Woo bin said, getting up with a tone of finality. "But I won't stand against you either," he continued with a sigh.

Looking at him, Jun pyo nodded, "I understand Woo bin ah. I could never ask you to go against your family. But the other three girls should be fair game." Woo bin agreed to that. Then turning to face everyone, Jun pyo said, "We are going to collect information about them first. Woo bin, Yi Jung, I want both of you to get closer to Ha Jae kyung and Chu Ga eul, Ji hoo and I will see if we can get anything out of Geum Jan di and Song Navya," he continued with a wide grin. "Besides if Geum Jan di apologizes first, then we won't even have to get involved, and there wouldn't be any conflict between V4 and F4," he announced confidently, still sure that Geum Jan di would be begging for his forgiveness sooner or later.

* * *

_**Later that day.**_

So Yi Jung was heading home a few hours after his conversation with F4. Glancing towards the coordinates of the porridge shop Woo bin had sent earlier, he decided to see if he could find anyone there.

Parking his orange Lotus Elise outside, he went inside the modest sized shop, looking around to see if anyone was there. The shop was almost empty, except for a couple of odd customers here and there.

"Hello," a cheerful voice greeted him as he was looking around. Turning towards the voice, he instantly recognized the face in front of him. He'd seen her in school and in Woo bin's file just a few hours ago. Chu Ga eul was standing in front of him. There was a flash of recognition in her eyes as soon as he turned to face her, but to her credit, her cheerful expression didn't waver even a bit. He smiled at this.

"I heard the porridge here is really good, and came to try it for myself," he said, flashing her his famous casanova smile.

Maintaining absolute professionalism, she replied, "Of course, please have a seat. Which flavoured porridge you would prefer?"

"What would you recommend Miss Ga eul?" he asked.

"Everything here is quite good, but you might want to try pumpkin porridge," she replied with a smile.

"Then one pumpkin porridge please," he replied, with a charming smile.

"Coming right up" she replied before moving on to attend to her other duties, and leaving him baffled with her composed attitude. He was used to girls fawning all over himself, throwing themselves at him, and even fighting with each other to spend time with him after giving them his signature smile. For the first time, he was encountering a girl who was apparently unaffected by his charms.

Unbeknownst to him, Ga eul was having a hard time trying to tamp down butterflies in her stomach. She didn't understand why she was reacting to him in such a way. This was not at all like her. It wasn't the first time she was serving a handsome and charming guy, and a well known Casanova at that! She'd never felt in such a way before. It took everything in her power and all the training she had done for years to control her actions around him. She rushed towards the kitchen to escape his presence.

"Master! One pumpkin porridge," she told the manager and chef of the porridge shop, sitting down in hopes of calming down her racing heart. _No Ga eul! Don't be charmed by his Casanova smile. You know better than that! Be professional with him,-_ she told herself when the master announced that the porridge was ready. She sighed, and took the porridge on the tray before going towards the table where So Yi Jung was waiting, phone in hand.

"Here's your porridge!" She announced, when she noticed his distracted state of mind.

Looking towards her, he smiled as she set the bowl of porridge in front of him.

"Would you please sit with me Miss Ga eul?"he asked with a smile that charmed most women within a second.

Trying not to blush, she replied, "I'm sorry sir, but that would not be possible as I have other responsibilities to take care of. Please let me know if you need anything else." with as much professionalism as she could muster and a polite smile, before turning to leave.

"Miss Ga eul! Please? I wouldn't have asked but I hate eating alone," he said, hoping she would agree, as he needed to talk to her to get as much information about her as possible.

She sighed, thinking it through before agreeing reluctantly. "Alright, a little while won't do any harm I guess," she said, while cursing herself internally.

"And Miss Ga eul, please call me by my name, we go to the same school and are classmates after all," he said, before taking a spoonful of porridge.

"In that case, I must insist you refer to me with my name as well," she replied, trying to gauge what he was trying to accomplish.

He smiled, before asking, "Do you work here often then?"

"Yeah, Jan di and I work here part time," she replied.

"Is she here as well?" he asked.

"No, her shift is already over," she replied with a smile.

"Have you guys known each other for long then?" he asked.

She felt like kicking herself once his motive became apparent. He was here for information. "Yeah since kindergarten," she replied, trying to keep her face neutral.

Sensing a change in her tone, he changed the topic, taking conversation towards more general things like hobbies and art. Soon, she too was enjoying herself in his company, and opened up a bit.

They were conversing animatedly when he asked, "How do you know Song Navya or Ha Jae kyung Ga eul ssi? I mean you all seem quite close."

All of a sudden, her expression closed off. "I don't see how I know either of them is any of your business Yi Jung ssi. Clearly you were here only for fetching information. We've known Navya since we were in kindergarten, and I think you are done with your porridge? Thank you for coming to eat here," she replied in a cold voice before getting up, collecting his bowl and going off in the direction of the was disappointed with herself for falling for his charm, thinking she should have known better than letting her guard down in front of someone because of their handsome face and charming smile.

He stared at her as she left, Not knowing whether to curse her or himself. He got up with an annoyed sigh. Everything had been going well, he was even enjoying himself for a change, not that he would ever admit it aloud. And then she became annoyingly assuming and cold when asked about other girls of V4. He left the porridge shop, annoyed at himself and her, though not even he could understand why. He had come for information, then why was he annoyed with her for guessing the truth? Or with himself for asking that question?


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_**The next day.**_

After a much needed day off which was provided by the weekend, it was time for everyone to go back to school.

The first few lectures were peaceful for everyone. Almost everyone in school was maintaining distance from V4, although the whispers didn't stop. Their first free period arrived, and everyone was off in search of a little bit of privacy.

Ga eul was strangely quiet after her last encounter with the casanova. Although the other girls had noticed, they didn't comment on it, thinking she would let them know if something was bothering her when she was ready.

She left for the art studio as soon as the bell for the free period rang. Thinking that some painting would lift up her spirits. While hoping she would not come across a certain Casanova, she set up a canvas board.

The art studio of Shinhwa was a large hall filled with various supplies for all types of visual arts and pieces belonging to all art forms. It was the ideal workplace for any artist.

Unbeknownst to her, the same Casanova she was hoping to avoid, was in the pottery section of the studio when she arrived, and noticed her entrance prominently. Thankful that she didn't notice him, he continued with his preparation of clay for moulding.

Picking up a bottle of yellow ocher acrylic colour, she dipped a round brush after wetting its bristles in it. Putting a small amount of colour in a small bowl in front of her, she placed the lid back on the bottle before putting both round brush and bottle in her hands aside. Next, taking a bowl of water in her hands, she picked up a wash brush from a wide range of brushes in front of her. Dipping the wash brush in the water, she dribbled water into the colour bowl and kept stirring till the colour was nearly transparent, and the mixture was runny. Dipping the wash brush in the mixture, she started moving the brush across the canvas evenly. Starting with a wash of yellow ocher in the background, she was soon lost in the world of colours.

Yi jung finished with his ceramic piece, and set it carefully on a shelf for drying. Yi jung thought about going away unnoticed, but something made him stop, and he went towards the painting section of the art studio. There he found Ga eul lost in the canvas in front of her. Although he was not even sure why, he roamed close enough for her to feel his presence before calling out to her.

"Ga eul ssi."

She looked up, surprised to find him there, and acknowledged him with "Yi Jung ssi '' and a nod of her head, although she desperately wanted to ignore his presence. Cursing her luck, she went back to her brush strokes, leaving him standing there.

Growing uncomfortable with nothing to do, he looked around and commented, "I didn't know you were a painter, Ga eul ssi." Although he did.

She looked up, saying "There are many things you don't know about me, Yi Jung ssi." Before putting the canvas board aside, out of anyone's way, for drying. Without any effort to continue conversation, she bid him adieu and walked out of the room, leaving a bewildered Yi Jung standing alone.

Going towards the canvas board to see her work, he saw a painting of smiling little girls within a glen of trees surrounding would have painted a pretty picture, were it not for their bound bodies in the spindly clutches of the tree branches. On closer inspection, he found a face of a woman formed with the same branches of trees.

Astonished with the quality of her work and perplexed by thinking what it could all mean, he muttered underneath his breath, "How am I supposed to know anything about you, if you won't even let me ask questions Ga eul?"

* * *

_**On the same day.**_

After discussing with F4, Jun pyo was busy trying to think of ways to make Jan di apologise, while the girl in question was heading towards the pool. As she went towards the changing rooms to change her outfit for swimming, she was greeted with a blow on her head from behind that almost knocked her out. Managing to stable herself, she turned around, to see herself surrounded by nearly a dozen masked men, a few of whom had wooden staffs, also known as bō in their hands. Regaining her balance, she took a fighting stance, and attacked before her attackers could.

Thrusting her left hand in front of the eyes of the guy nearest to her, she punched him in the stomach, causing him to stumble backwards. Sensing another guy attacking, she used an axe kick, hitting him precisely on the neck with enough force to push him backwards but not enough to cause serious damage. Knocking another one out with a kick to his head, she turned. Seeing another guy with a bō about to attack her, she ducked, making him miss his target. Catching one end of the staff which he attacked her with, she folded her arm around it and thrusted forward, making him lose his grip on the bō and his balance. She blocked a blow from another guy using a staff in her hands, which managed to break it in the middle.

Throwing the pieces of staff away, she did a backflip to avoid getting hit by attacks of masked men in front of her. Unbeknownst to her, one of the men opened a bottle of chloroform and emptied it on a handkerchief. Doing a low sweeping kick to disbalance her, he tried to get closer, but she managed to jump over his leg, maintaining her balance. Although she had managed to knock out more than half of them, she was surrounded by the rest. Making her stumble backwards by feigning a kick yet hitting her with a punch, one of the attackers managed to get her close enough to the guy who had a chloroformed handkerchief. The last thing she knew was the sensation of falling backwards before her vision went black.

Gu Jun Pyo was pacing in the F4 lounge anxiously, when a few masked men brought an unconscious Jan di inside. The other members of F4 were busy elsewhere, making him the only current member of the F4 present. Placing her on the couch, they turned to see his furious expression.

"Why is she unconscious?" He thundered. "Did I say you are to bring her here unconscious?" He asked, anger clear in his voice.

"N-no sirr" one of them managed to Sutter.

"Then why is she unconscious?" He repeated, making his displeasure clear.

"S-s-sir, sh-she attacked us when she saw all us, we had to use chloroform to make her unconscious," he answered, not daring to admit they had attacked her first, after all his orders were clear, they had to bring her in the F4 lounge, conscious and unharmed.

"Leave, before I fire all of you," he said in cold fury.

He tried to distract himself, waiting for her to wake up. He was watching the surveillance system when she woke up. Looking around for any dangers, she sighed in relief when she found none. Getting up, she saw someone sitting on a beanbag near the TV screen. Calling out to that person to ask for her whereabouts, she went near them, and was shocked to see Gu Jun Pyo himself.

"You! What are you doing here? Where are we?" She shouted.

Turning to see her conscious, he turned his face into a mask of indifference, saying "Oh, you are awake then. Are you going to apologise now?" He asked, still looking at the TV screen.

"What?" She replied, dumbfounded.

"Apologise? You know the meaning of apology, don't you dry cleaner? Expressing that you're sorry for something," he explained as though she were a child, managing to turn her confusion into anger.

"Where the hell I am and why the hell are you here?" She asked, gritting her teeth.

Finally, he turned to face her. "Well, you seem quite dumb as well. You are in F4's lounge of course," He answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, before continuing, "and you were brought here by my men on my orders. To apologise."

Losing whatever control she had on her temper, she shouted, "Apologise? For what? Being attacked? Drugged? And becoming unconscious? Or for getting kidnapped?"

He looked at her before saying, "Don't be so obtuse, commoner, apologise for going against me and attacking me of course!"

"What the? When the hell did I attack you? You spoiled nutcase!" She exclaimed.

"Do you have weak memory as well? A few days ago! With the ice cream of course," he replied, surprised by her reaction towards him, he continued, "I do not want to escalate anything that might create familial tensions among any of us. So I am giving you an opportunity to apologise. Consider yourself lucky, commoner, I'm feeling generous, so I've decided to forgive you once you apologise," he finished self righteously.

She didn't know if she should be astonished or not at this. Trying to get a grip over her fury, she replied, "So you can torture your next victim? Whole school is not after my blood because Navya took stance against your stupid red card and being a Song she has enough standing to challenge you, or what? I might have been the next Lee Min Ha of this school? Listen carefully Gu Jun pyo, I'm not going to apologise for standing up to your bullying no matter what you do!" She finished with a tyrannical huff and stormed out of the lounge, leaving him shocked by her behavior.

* * *

_**Meanwhile, somewhere else in Shinhwa high school.**_

Ha Jae kyung was in search of a dance studio. Dance was her solace during stress, and the past few days had been more than stressful for her. She soon found it and went inside to find it strangely empty. Shrugging it off as an odd occurrence, she turned on the lights and went towards the music system to see what collections were available. As soon as she reached the music collection, the lights went off and before she could do anything, she found herself pinned to a wall with strong arms on both sides of herself. Looking up, she saw the face she was trying to avoid at all costs. Her expression turned into one of fury, matching his already cold one, and she asked, "What is the meaning of this, Song Woo bin?" With burning anger clear in her eyes.

"I could ask you the same thing Ha Jae kyung, what are you doing here?" He countered in a voice colder than ice. If her fury was like a burning inferno, he was her exact opposite, he was a bone chilling glacier.

She tried to push him away, "That's none of your business." She replied in the same tone, when he didn't budge.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Stay away from me and my family Ha Jae kyung."

Her eyes flashed towards his in fury, "I have no interest in associating with you. And I'm not the one who pinned you down. Besides, who I associate myself with is none of your business, Song Woo bin."

His eyes flashed with hurt but it was gone in a second. "It is when the person concerned is my cousin. And I stopped having interest in what you do or who you associate with long ago."

It was clear his last sentence hurt her, but she managed to mask her emotions, giving nothing away. Using her heel to hit him on the backside of his knee, she managed to loosen his grip on her hands and pushed him away. "I hate you Song Woo bin. Besides, you don't control her. And please, stop acting like you care or you are concerned. Navya can take care of herself, besides she doesn't need protection from me. As for you caring? No one is going to fall for that," she said with narrowed eyes.

Looking at her, he replied, "It's not I who is acting. And, I don't feel anything besides hate for you either." Before storming off, angry yet a little bit confused.

She slumped down on the ground, once he was out of eyesight. Her heart full of conflicting emotions.

* * *

_**Around Same time, the music room, Shinhwa High School.**_

Wandering around in the hallways of Shinhwa, Navya came across a music room, which was well equipped with a variety of instruments. Entering inside, she picked up an acoustic guitar, and sat down on the couch, lightly strumming the strings of the guitar with her fingers. Looking around for a plectrum and guitar tuner, she made sure the guitar was properly tuned and started playing a song, along with humming its lyrics to herself, soon losing herself in rhythm, she was lost to her surroundings.

The sound of guitar chords managed to wake up Yoon Ji hoo, who was sleeping between the couch and wall. He decided to ignore it for the sake of his sleep, but soon the sound of the chords turned into an unknown, yet beautiful tune which was accompanied by an equally melodious voice. Although the language of lyrics was unfamiliar to him, the music was soothing.

To his great regret, he soon recognized the ending notes of the song, and thought about getting up. But before he could, another strumming pattern fell on his ears, recognizing the rhythm, he concluded currently famous song 'because I'm stupid' was being played, although it seemed experimental on the basis of sound.

Unable to tamp down his curiosity regarding the identities of the guitarist and vocalist, he got up, and turned towards the musician. To his shock, Song Navya, Woo bin's cousin, was playing the guitar, with eyes closed in concentration, and earphones plugged in her ears, probably listening to the song she was playing, lost in her own world and unaware of anything around herself. Looking around to see if anyone else was there, he found no one. She was the guitarist and vocalist of that unknown song apparently. He went towards her, and cleared his throat.

She looked up, startled. Her thoughts turned from confusion to annoyance then distrust before settling on confusion again. She opened her mouth and closed it again, as if to say something, but thought better of it, staring at him in confusion instead.

"Um, try B minor instead of A minor for that song, maybe it would sound better?" He said, trying to fill up awkward silence.

She just nodded, and turned her attention back towards the guitar in her hands, using B minor chord at the beginning of the sequence instead of A minor. She looked up to see him standing in front of her when she successfully figured out the chords of the song.

"Thank you," she said, with a bright smile. He just smiled in return, but didn't move from his place.

Feeling uncomfortable with him looming around, she asked, "Um why don't you sit down?"

"No, I'm fine," he replied.

"Um, when did you get here by the way?" She asked, looking at him, while strumming random patterns on guitar in her hands.

"I was sleeping here, you disturbed my nap," he said, with a neutral expression.

She was having a hard time figuring out if he was joking or not. Finally deciding he must be kidding, she replied with an uncomfortable chuckle, "I didn't realise anyone was here when I came in," and focused on her guitar again.

He just nodded, before starting with, "That song-" and thinking better of it, stopped abruptly.

She looked up again, "Huh?"

He shook his head, saying nothing, before saying, "That song you were playing before… which language it was in?" Feeling a little bit uncomfortable, but curiosity getting the better of him.

"It was in Marathi," she replied with a smile, "it's a language in India."

He nodded again, and turned to leave. Looking back again before exiting the door, he saw her focused on guitar again. Thinking she had a pretty smile, he went away with a smile on his own face, probably to find another place for taking a nap.


	11. Chapter 10

Here's another chapter, hope everyone enjoys it! Read and Review : )

Chapter 10

_**That Evening, Same day.**_

Geum Jan di was heading towards the porridge shop on her bicycle for her shift after an eventful day at school. Although the atmosphere around her was generally pleasant, with chirping birds and soft breeze, she was lost in her own worries. Ga eul's shift was earlier than hers on this day. Jan di had noticed Ga eul was strangely withdrawn over the past couple of days, although she didn't press the issue, thinking Ga eul would let them know in her own time if something was bothering her.

When she had returned from the F4 lounge, it was already the lunch hour. Ga eul and Navya were already in the lunch hall but Jae kyung was strangely missing. She told them about the kidnapping incident, and both Ga eul and Navya wanted to storm inside the F4 lounge to give Gu Jun pyo a piece of their mind, but Jae kyung hadn't turned up and everyone had been more worried for her. When they searched for her, she was found slumped in a dark dance hall, her gaze unfocused and a blank expression on her face. They rushed towards her, hoping she was alright. Their arrival had effectively broken her out of her trance, but their worry lingered when she remained all too quiet. Jae kyung was bubbly and cheerful by nature, and it had been long since they had seen her so quiet. It frightened Jan di, because the memories of the last time when Jae kyung had been so quiet, weren't pleasant for anyone. They decided to leave for home early, skipping out on the rest of the school day. When they were back in their cars, Jan di driving Jae kyung's car as she clearly was not in state to do so, with Ga eul riding along. Jae kyung was in Navya's car, sitting silently in the passenger's seat. They had hoped Navya would be able to get something out of her and fortunately they were right, surprisingly Jae kyung breaking the silence herself.

Although all she said was, "I hate your cousin." It was more than enough for them to guess what might have happened.

Jan di was engrossed in all her thoughts as she walked, that she barely noticed a member of F4, Yoon Ji hoo, on the road, parking his bike aside and removing his helmet. Hoping he won't bother her, she decided to move away from his line of sight. But to her great surprise, he headed straight towards an old woman who was trying to cross the road. Apparently she had been trying to do this for a while, but was too afraid to do so with passing vehicles. Unfortunately for the old woman, the street she was crossing didn't have signals, as the street wasn't one which experienced heavy traffic.

To her great surprise, Yoon Ji hoo smiled warmly at the old woman, and helped her cross the street, while chatting with her amicably. "She must be someone important, or he must have known her beforehand," Jan di thought, but the clothes she was wearing suggested modest living, and the probability of him knowing someone beneath his circle was quite low.

She tried her best, but couldn't tamp down her curiosity. Finally, she approached him when he came back near his bike. He didn't really notice her, until she was standing close to his bike. And when he did, he just blinked, surprised by her presence there.

"Um, Hey-" she said, when he just stared at her instead of saying anything.

"Hello," he finally replied with a small smile.

"Have you known that old woman for long?" She asked, not being able to think anything better to ask what was on her mind, and not willing to spend more than absolutely necessary amount of time with an associate of a bully, having noticed before that he never took part in bullying directly.

He looked confused for a moment, before recognition flickered in his eyes. "Oh, the one I helped cross the street just now?" He asked for confirmation, and said after she nodded, he replied, "I've met her once or twice before," with a mysterious smile.

She looked astonished, although she knew the probability of him knowing that woman well was quite low."Why did you help her?" She blurted out.

He looked surprised for a moment, before saying with a smile, "Why? What makes you think I am incapable of helping someone?" He asked, surprised by her question, before covering it up with, "Besides, I had something important to discuss with her."

"Not incapable… it's just, you don't seem the type who helps someone out of basic human decency." She replied before realising how rude that must have sounded and apologized quickly, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that! It's just.. With you being part of F4 and all…" she trailed off.

His expression became blank again, "You didn't seem judgemental either."

She narrowed her eyes, "I'm not. But F4 are majorly responsible for bullying in Shinhwa, and that's a known fact." She sighed, the kidnapping incident heavily on her mind and continued, "I haven't seen you or others besides Gu Jun Pyo of course, involved in bullying but watching someone get bullied from sidelines, especially when you have power to stop them, is just as bad!"

He stared at her, with a blank expression on his face. Finally he said with a sigh, "There are many things that you don't know and don't understand, Geum Jan di," before putting his helmet on and speeding off, leaving her confused.

_Could a chaebol really be a kind person from inside? _she thought to herself.

* * *

_**Later that day.**_

Navya was speeding off towards the location the GPS in her car was showing. Soon, she reached in front of a crowded club. Entering inside, she saw dozens of rich people all around, dancing, drinking and having fun.

The manager of the club came towards her as soon as she entered the club, greeting her with, "Good evening ma'am! We are pleased to welcome you here!" With eagerness clear in his voice. "This is a really lucky day for us, both Prince Song and Princess Song are here!" he rambled on. Raising a hand to stop his rambling, she asked, "Could you please point me in direction towards my cousin?" with a blank face.

With a "Yes, of course ma'am," the manager showed her to the private parlour reserved for Song Woo bin.

She had already called the club manager after tracking Woo bin's location. Making sure Jae kyung was alright, she decided it was time to have a long due chat with her cousin.

When she entered the private parlour, she found Woo bin surrounded by many women, quite a few of them all over him. Noticing his absent state of mind, she cleared her throat to make him aware of her presence. Looking up from the drink in his hands, he dismissed all women with a wave of his hand. All of them scrambled around for a moment, before getting out swiftly, familiar with his foul temper if pushed.

The private parlor was pleasantly lit with blue LED lights, and surrounded by white curtains. But the atmosphere inside was anything but pleasant. The dark smell of alcohol and smoke was lingering in the air causing her wrinkle her nose in distaste. Navya was leaning on the wall as she watched the blank expressions on her cousin's face, only occasionally throwing varied contemptuous glances towards her as the women all around him rushed out. Soon, no one besides the two of them were in the parlor. She pushed away from the wall she was leaning on and went to sit on his opposite side. The expression on her face, carefully blank.

"Song Woo Bin," she called out neutrally. Shocked to see him in such a state. Last Time they had any contact, before her arrival in Korea a few days ago, had been when her father was alive, back when everything was well. Woo bin had gone to the states, to spend the holidays with his uncle, aunt and cousin, before their high school years began. Now in their final year of high school, he was a completely different person, she thought. Although she had heard about his Playboy ways, she didn't think she'd see him in such a state.

He looked up, his face devoid of any emotion. "What is she doing here?" he asked in a cold voice, before she could continue.

"She came here with me," she said but he interrupted her loudly, before she could continue.

"Why?" Getting up with a bit of difficulty, stumbling around, it was clear he was already drunk. He continued before she could say anything, "Why are you still friends with her? How come she doesn't have any problem being friends with you! She made it pretty clear-" he trailed off, expression on his face becoming more distraught, coming to stand in front of her, he grabbed her shoulders, shaking her a little. "She's deceiving you Navya! Don't trust her! She-"

Becoming alarmed due to his behaviour, she grabbed both his hands, which were still on her shoulders, "Woo bin! Woo bin calm down!" she said, trying to make him sit down, hoping he would calm down enough to explain what was wrong.

Finally he did sit down on the couch. Giving him a glass of water, she told him to drink up. He took the glass in his hand, and leaned back after taking a sip, mentally exhausted. Looking at him like this, it was a strange shock for her. Till now, she had thought he was the one responsible for the issues between Ha Jae kyung and himself. But clearly he was just as bothered by seeing her as Jae kyung was. Although she herself didn't know much about what was wrong, it was clear the issue between both of them had deep roots.

Glancing towards him, she saw him leaning back, his eyes closed and somewhat relaxed after letting bottled up emotions out. She called out, "Woo bin?" But receiving no response, she concluded he had fallen asleep on the couch. Letting out a sigh, she called a few of her people, to get him inside her car. Getting on the driver seat, she headed back towards Song mansion, with few other cars of her people tailing her.

As she was driving towards Song mansion, she thought back about what she knew regarding what happened between Jae kyung and Woo bin. All she knew was, Jae kyung and Woo bin got together when he visited them in the States. After being together in a long distance relationship for almost a year, all of a sudden both of them were no longer together. Jae kyung had refused to speak about it and contacting Woo bin had been out of question, as they weren't close enough to ask each other about break ups. She had promised her mother she wouldn't interfere, who firmly believed that if Jae kyung and Woo bin were meant to be, they would resolve their differences on their own. But seeing their miserable conditions, not interfering was no longer possible. She decided to help both of them anyhow she could, because Jae kyung was one of her best friends, and Woo bin was family, and seeing either of them miserable hurt her more than she could express in words. As for not interfering in their relationship, she told herself that she would just help with finding out what the issue was and resolve it, so they would be able to at least sit in the same room without killing each other.

Reaching Song mansion, she asked her people to move Woo bin in his room, before going to freshen up herself.

The next morning, instead of guards ready to fight him, which was becoming another routine, he was woken up by heavenly smelling pancakes and coffee brought in by the maids. As he woke up, he saw his cousin leaning on the door frame of his room, with a small smile on her face, which was strange for him.

Naturally, he asked, "What are you doing here?" in a gorgy voice, clearly suffering from a hangover from last night.

"Get up cousin, or we'll be late for school," she replied with a smile before turning and going away to get ready for school.

Remembering his behavior from last night, he fell back on his bed with a groan, sarcastically thinking, _'Great! Just what I needed in my life. Do you think you can humiliate yourself any further Song Woo Bin? That too in front of your cousin, who has also been your biggest competitor your whole life? Just Great!_' before eventually getting up, eating breakfast and getting ready for school. The question 'Why was she being so kind today?' Crossed his mind, but he managed to push it away for contemplation later.

To his shock, Navya was waiting for him outside the gate, while sitting in the driver's seat of his car. He was about to ask what exactly she was doing, when she said, "Are you coming or should I head off alone?" While starting the engine. Seeing the only one option for him was to get inside the car, if he wanted his car in one piece, he got in and sat in the passenger seat of his car. "Would you mind explaining what exactly you are doing Navya?" He asked with gritted teeth.

"I'm driving," she replied with a Innocent look.

"I can see that. But why are you driving my car? While I'm sitting in the passenger seat?" He asked, thin on patience, and irritated because of a headache he still had.

"Because I wanted to drive your car," she replied with a bright smile, knowing that if she said anything about how dangerous she thought giving a car in his hands could be, he would blow up.

Not believing a word she said, yet not having any other idea about what her reason behind the sudden change in her could be, he scoffed. "And what about your commoner friends? Won't they need you to give them lift to school?" He asked after thinking for a bit.

She rolled her eyes. "They don't need me, I like going to school with them," she replied with a fond smile.

Taking a chance, he asked a question that had been on everyone's mind, "By the way, how do you know them exactly?" He threw a wary glance towards her, keenly observing her expression.

She sighed, "We've known each other since kindergarten." He scoffed at this, "you were in Shinhwa kindergarten Navya. There's no way either of them attended Shinhwa."

She glanced in his direction, "If you remember, I was in Shinhwa kindergarten, then you must also remember how much I hated it there Woo bin."

He looked away, a guilty expression crossing his face. Noticing this, she smiled, "Relax, all of us were kids back then. And we are almost grown ups now. I've been over it for ages."

He nodded. "Still Navya, you are my cousin, the way we treated you back then in kindergarten was wrong. Again I apologise for that." Referring to their behaviour she suffered from him and other guys back when they were children, because she was a girl, she looked different from other girls and she had kept following them around.

A genuine smile appeared on her face at his words, with warmth in her eyes and voice, she replied, "You've already apologized for all that before, besides, as I've said, all of us have grown up now. And that's besides the point, as I was saying, I hated it in Shinhwa, so mom and dad took me to the playground away from the mansion. There, I met Ga eul and Jan di. Both of them are the first friends I've ever had. I've kept contact with them over the years I was away."

"So it's because of them you are here back in Shinhwa. No wonder you've extended family protection over them," he sighed, his tone softer than before. He was curious about Ha Jae kyung knowing Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul as well, but it didn't seem like Navya was going to explain anything about her, and there was no way he would ever ask anything regarding her. They reached Shinhwa campus. Onlookers were surprised, and as usual started whispering.

As they were heading towards lockers, she asked him in an annoyed voice, her brows furrowed together and her nose crinkled a bit, "Does the Shinhwa population have a whispering epidemic or something?"

He found her expression amusing, and letting out a chuckle, replied, "You get used to it after a while." For the first time in his life, he was experiencing something similar to a bond siblings share. Sure he had his F4 friends, but Navya and him were related by blood, it felt different somehow. Before, it was family loyalty for him and nothing more, now her being like a sister to him didn't feel strange as it did before, he could feel a growing bond they could potentially share.

They were near the lockers, when they heard a shriek coming from the direction they were heading towards. Looking at each other, they ran towards it to see Jan di covered with a pile of shredded paper coming from her locker!

"I take my words back. Not all of us have grown up for sure, Gu Jun pyo still needs to grow up a lot," Navya told him with an annoyed sigh, before rushing to help Jan di.


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: Thank you KyliEisMC2 for editing! Hope every reader of this story likes this chapter!

Enjoy reading and don't forget to review!

Chapter 11

_**The next morning.**_

Geum Jan di was getting ready to go to school. Both Ga eul and Jae kyung were feeling a bit under the weather, hence they were not going to school on that day. After having breakfast with her family and bidding them goodbye, she went towards the cozy parking space of the house, where Jae kyung's Porsche, their dry cleaning van and two bicycles were parked. Getting her bicycle out, she headed towards Shinhwa, with hope in her heart that at least the upcoming day would be a normal one.

She was in a good mood after a ride in the fresh morning air, it had been a few days since she got to ride her own bicycle in the morning after all. Navya had insisted on picking her up, but she refused, feeling uneasy to make her come all the way in the opposite direction just to pick her up. She was going towards her locker to get her stuff, with a bright smile on her face and bounce in her steps.

_Bright mornings can do wonders on someone's mood_, she thought.

Unbeknownst to her, her every action was closely monitored by Gu Jun pyo himself, with great anticipation. He was smiling widely ever since she entered the premises of school, excitement was clear in his every move.

His grin was starting to unnerve Yi Jung who was also in the lounge. "What's making you so excited Jun pyo?" He asked warily, with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Tolerance is a virtue Yi Jung ah! So you must wait and watch!" Gu Jun pyo replied, with a large grin on his face.

"Don't you mean patience is a virtue Jun pyo?" Yi Jung asked with a sigh.

Ignoring his comment, Jun pyo turned his attention back towards the surveillance system. Curious about what was caught to make him so excited, Yi Jung too sat down on the couch, facing the TV screen.

Geum Jan di was standing in front of her locker, trying to open its door, but it seemed stuck due to some unexplainable reason. Finally with some efforts, she managed to open it and let out a shriek as all of a sudden, she was covered with a pile of shredded paper coming out from her locker.

Gu Jun pyo let of a chuckle as he saw her covered in shredded paper. Perplexed, Yi Jung turned towards Jun pyo. "Gu Jun pyo, why is she covered in shredded paper?" He asked warily.

He just smiled in delight, saying "She was given the opportunity to apologise, and she blew it up." Yi Jung was even more confused at this, under normal circumstances Jun pyo would not be smiling after admitting such a thing. His smiling face indicated that the word normal was not even related with the situation.

Everyone around Jan di stopped what they were doing to see what had happened. Soon Navya got there, followed by Woo bin. Both of them helped her to remove the mess from her locker. Thankfully, all her things were still in the locker. Taking out the things she was in need of, she proceeded on her way to class with as much calmness as she could muster.

Things were almost normal afterwards, but whispering had increased tenfold among the Shinhwa population. They knew none of the regular students were responsible for locker incidence after Navya and Jun pyo's warning, and that just made it even more interesting for students. Although no one dared to approach them with Navya by her side almost all the time.

Finally, after what seemed like endless hours of lectures, their free period arrived. Packing her bag with a smile on her face, Jan di turned to Navya, "I'm heading towards the pool!" She said, excitedly.

"I'll come along too!" Navya said, trying to match her enthusiasm.

Jan di asked confused, "You want to swim as well?" knowing Navya wasn't into swimming all that much.

"Not really, I just want to watch you swimming, it's been ages since I've done that." Navya tried to cover up, hoping Jan di would let it go, but that was unlikely. Jan di asked, "Really? What's so different about my swimming today Navya?" With a raised eyebrow, and her arms crossed in front of her chest in an authoritative manner.

"Does something have to be different?" She asked in return.

Sighing, Jan di went to stand in front of Navya, and said, "No. If you want to swim, you are welcome to join me, but I'm not letting you ruin your free period watching over me." She finished with quotation marks in the air. Navya was about to speak when she continued, "I said no Navya, and I don't want any arguments. I understand you are bothered after this morning's locker incident, but I'm fine! And you know better than anyone else that I can take care of myself. Let that git do whatever he can, he has got another thing coming if he thinks he can break me. Now go and bother someone else for a while." She finished with a chuckle.

Seeing no other option than agreeing with her, Navya retorted, "Yes mom," with a roll of her eyes. Getting more serious, she continued, "Call me if you need me alright? I'll get there as soon as possible." Jan di nodded and headed towards the pool.

"Bother someone else huh? I can do that." Navya muttered to herself, before heading towards the F4 lounge.

Storming inside with an unreadable expression on her face, she spotted Gu Jun pyo glued to the TV screen. Looking around, she saw a spacious lounge with various games and comfortable looking bean bags along with a couch facing towards the TV screen, which strangely enough, was showing Geum Jan di outside the main school building, walking towards the pool. A few guitars were hanging on the wall, and a violin case was seen on a table. She spotted Yoon Ji hoo sleeping peacefully on a bean bag, with a magazine covering his face. This scene brought an involuntary smile to her face, which was full of fondness. Yi Jung and Woo bin were playing snooker, she nodded at them, before calling out "Gu Jun Pyo!" loudly.

Turning around, he saw his friend's cousin standing in the lounge. Getting up, and moving his attention away from the tv screen for the first time in a day, he went to stand in front of her, with a smug smile on his face.

"Came to apologise on behalf of your commoner friend, Princess Song? Tell her she will have to apologise herself if she wants forgiveness from the great Gu Jun pyo nim," He stated arrogantly, with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Woo bin and Yi Jung left their cues on the table and went close enough to interfere if things became too bad between Navya and Gu Jun pyo. Ji hoo, who had woken up with all the noise, was now sitting up, leaning forwards with his hands under his chin, looking towards them keenly.

Navya couldn't help the snort that escaped her mouth, rolling her eyes at his use of overly respectful suffix for himself, she replied "Apologise? Not even in your dreams Gu Jun Pyo! I'm here to warn you." In a cold voice. Looking straight into his eyes, she said "Stay away from Jan di, Gu Jun Pyo. If I see a single prank played on her, you'll face retaliation, and trust me, it won't be pleasant for you."

She turned, about to head out, when he said, "Was that supposed to be intimidating? Try it on someone else Song Navya, petty threats don't intimidate me." In a careless voice, with his hands in his pockets, his eyes twinkling as he accepted her challenge.

She turned around to face him, with a smirk of her face, "Petty threats huh? I'll take that as your denial to comply with my request."

As soon as she said this, she heard a familiar yet frustrated voice coming from the TV in the lounge. Horrified, she went towards the screen as soon as she could, by passing Gu Jun Pyo who was standing in her way. She saw Jan di near the swimming pool, which was full of living ducks! Although they were cute, the swimming pool was no place for ducks. She heard a chuckle from behind, she turned towards the source of noise to see Gu Jun pyo chuckling while looking towards the screen. He placed his hand over his mouth when he saw her sharp gaze directed towards himself, but that didn't pacify her annoyance.

Going towards the controls of the surveillance system, she clicked the power button, shutting down the screen. As she did this, unbeknownst to anyone she also inserted a bug into his system, making sure she would be able to access all protected and unprotected data on not just school, but all servers connected to school and therefore Shinhwa servers, before turning back to face others.

"What makes you think you can barge in, and turn off the screen without permission?" Gu Jun pyo asked indignantly. "You can come here only because you are Woo bin's cousin! Don't cross your limits!" He yelled, his face twisted into an angry scowl.

"What makes you think you can tell me what my limits are? You are the one who started this Gu Jun pyo, and trust me, you are going to regret this. You are fond of pranks huh? Let's see how much you like them when you are the one they are played on." She said, with a smirk on her face. "You made a mistake when you played prank on Jan di even when I told you not to. Be prepared for the worst Gu Jun Pyo." She threatened, before heading out. Leaving perplexed F4 in the lounge.

She slammed the door of the lounge hard as she went outside,bringing everyone out of their trance. Woo bin cursed underneath his breath and ran after her, hoping to talk with her.

Gu Jun pyo shrugged her warning off, as he flopped down on the couch, saying, "She won't be able to do anything to me." in a confident tone.

For some inexplicable reason, Ji hoo seemed slightly intrigued. And Yi Jung seemed annoyed with conflict itself.

* * *

Woo bin was wandering around, looking for her. He felt the need to explain that although he won't be helping her, he won't side with Gu Jun Pyo either. This decision was not new for him, but before that day, he wouldn't have cared enough to explain this to her. But this morning was an entirely new experience for him. He realized how much he was longing for a sibling -like bond he could have shared with Navya, and now that he had an opportunity to let it grow, he was not going to crush it.

He caught her not far away from the lounge. Slowing down, he called out, "Navya!"

Turning round, she was surprised to see her cousin. She certainly hadn't expected that he would come after her. Pausing, she turned to face him.

"What is it Woo bin?" She asked, her expression again blank.

"Do you think all that was really necessary? Your friend could just apologise and the issue would be over! Why are you getting involved in this?" He asked, frustrated.

"Apologise? For what Song Woo bin? Taking a stand against bullying?" Her blank expression turned into a furious one. Her voice dropping down a pitch.

Woo bin sighed in defeat, knowing that bullying was a sensitive topic for her. He informed her "I'm sorry but I won't be able to help you in this anyhow." Looking away, he continued, "but I won't be siding with Jun pyo either." Before turning on his heels to head back towards the lounge.

She was surprised, as she was expecting him to side with Gu Jun pyo, knowing they have been friends for their whole lives. She called out to him, "Woo bin!" Before he could go any farther, she continued in a softer voice, "I would've never asked you to go against your friends." Before covering it up with a nonchalant voice, "Besides, I don't need your help."

An amused smile formed on his face as he heard this, replying, "Of course you don't." With a chuckle, he went towards the lounge.

A smile appeared on her face as she thought about the conversation she had with her cousin, and how different and mature he was acting, compared to all their previous interactions, before leaving to search for Geum Jan di. Little did she know that his behavior was largely influenced by her own actions which were vastly different from before, as she no longer held him solely responsible for Jae kyung's odd behavior after watching his distress the previous night.

* * *

_**Later that day, Jan di's house.**_

All four girls were sitting in the living room of the house, each one busy doing their own things. The room was cozy with large windows and the soft cream coloured curtains. Furnishing included a couple of cushioned wooden chairs, a comfortable looking couch in golden brown colour, a small coffee table and a floor to ceiling inbuilt bookshelf with a small TV.

Jan di's parents were out of town for a few days for some work. Geum Jan di was seated on a large window seal of the windows, leaning back comfortably with her legs stretched out parallel to the window. The window itself was left open and the calm trees outside were clearly seen, curtains blowing with a breeze of air every once in a while. Earphones were plugged in her ears, and she was humming along with the song playing on her phone with her eyes closed and face relaxed.

Ha Jae kyung was lying on her stomach on the couch, her bobbed hair perfectly framing her face as she rested her chin on one hand, while using the other to type on her on her laptop which was open in front of her, as she replied to emails.

Chu Ga eul was sitting down on the hardwood floor, her legs crossed in sitting position. A few blocks of wood and wood sculpting instruments lying around her. Her face was deep in concentration as she moved a carving knife on a block of wood in her hands. A strand of her hair, which had escaped from the bun, resting peacefully on the side of her face.

Song Navya was sitting on the floor along with Ga eul, leaning back on the side of the couch with her legs stretched in front of her. Her face deep in concentration as she worked on the laptop in front of her and her long black hair flowing down in curls, tucked behind her ears and framing her face. Headphones attached to the laptop were covering her ears.

All of a sudden, a pleased grin formed on her face, and she yelled, "Yes!" Startling everyone around her. She looked up to see everyone starting at her with bewildered expressions on their face. "Check out the video I'm forwarding to all of you." She said with a sheepish smile as she watched the expressions on their faces.

Throwing a amused glance in her direction, Jae kyung and Jan di opened the mobile application developed by Navya, which was encrypted to make sure no one would be able to gain any information by hacking into their devices. Ga eul got up and went towards Jae kyung to watch the video, as her phone was in her room.

They were confused at first when they saw Gu Jun pyo throwing orders around to his staff, and firing a maid because she spilled the tea. 'Typical chaebol,' Thought Jan di. Their confusion soon turned into surprise when they saw Gu Jun pyo running around with fear on his face, apparently afraid of a small bug which had entered the breakfast parlor of Gu mansion. He became normal when the bug was shooed out of the house by one of the maids, acting as though nothing had happened.

They turned back to see a large grin on Navya's face after watching the video. They were even more confused than before. Realising no one knows what happened in F4 lounge a few hours earlier, she retold the whole incident, along with her promise of retaliation.

Jae kyung voiced the question which was on everyone's mind after hearing the explanation. "How did you get this video Navya?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Um.. Imighthavebuggedhissurveillancesystem.." she replied in a hurried tone, with a sheepish smile on her face.

"What? Would you please repeat that?" Asked Ga eul, not believing her ears. They did not use spyware unless on official missions, and that too was only when it was absolutely necessary. Invading someone's privacy was not something they liked doing, unless that privacy was causing a threat to humanity. And Gu Jun pyo, although a bully, wasn't a threat.

"I might have bugged his surveillance system… but I didn't enter Shinhwa servers! I just surfed through his private servers and home network, and found this video in security footage… And it's not like I'm breaching security or anything! Security around his house's private servers was non-existent. At least Official Shinhwa servers are more protected than that…" she rambled on, unaware of the amused glances thrown in her way, before stopping short when she noticed expressions on their face, and slumping down. "Huh, I thought you guys would get mad or something." She sighed out before focusing on her laptop again.

The others shared amused glances with each other. After all they all had to agree that watching mighty Jun pyo, running around like a child, being afraid of a bug was pretty hilarious. And it wasn't like they had any intention of harming Shinhwa itself with espionage, so some breaches in their self declared protocol were acceptable for the sake of retaliation.

* * *

A/N: All of them, i.e. F4 and V4 are in final year of highschool in this story.

Thank you for reading :)


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

_**The next day, Gu Mansion.**_

Gu Jun Pyo had been in a pleasant mood since his attempt to kidnap Geum Jan di had failed. He wanted to make her apologise, but even he was not sure why he was so insistent on it. Any other time, any opposition to his rule would have caused him to be in a foul mood, but something about this commoner made him smile even in most unusual circumstances. This day was not different either.

He woke up quiet earlier than his usual time, without any prompting. This was happening for a couple of days, and this change in behavior seemed to alarm all the servants appointed in his wing, which was undeniably amusing for him. Now, although everyone was still surprised by his early arising and laid back attitude, they managed to act somewhat normally around him.

Getting up from his bed and freshening up, he opened the curtains and sliding glass door before stepping into the balcony facing the well maintained gardens of his family's property. He leaned on the railing of the balcony, enjoying the morning sun and the chirping of birds. With a soft breeze of air, the beautiful smell of wet soil filled his lungs and a relaxed smile formed on his face, brightening up his eyes and making him look more innocent.

This was how the butler of Gu household found him some time later. Although he was surprised to see the sudden changes in the heir of the Gu family, he managed to hide it well.

Calling out to him, he asked, "Master Gu Jun pyo, would you like your breakfast to be served here?" in a calm voice.

Jun pyo turned around, and declined with his head, before saying, "I will be down in breakfast parlour in a little while." Hearing this, Mr. Kim, the butler of the family, turned around and left to give instructions to staff.

Gu Jun pyo entered the breakfast parlour, dressed in his impeccable tailored suit a while later, where cuisines of various types were placed in front of him. Opting for traditional Korean breakfast and some tea, he smiled towards the maid who was serving him. Startled, she spilled the tea while serving, her eyes fixed on him. Letting out an amused chuckle, he waved her away.

Again everyone was surprised at this behavior, Mr. Kim came forward, saying "I'll make sure she's fired for this, Master."

Looking up, Jun pyo replied with the smile that was now constantly on his face, "Relax Mr. Kim, it was just a little bit of tea." Everyone was even more surprised at this, as spilling tea was a fireable offence till a couple of days ago.

Soon after finishing his breakfast, he headed towards the parking lot of Gu mansion, where his favourite shiny red Lotus Elise was parked. Getting inside, and starting the engine, he sped off towards the school.

Soon enough, he reached Shinhwa high, where he found his friends waiting for him. Greeting them with a warm smile, which confused even his friends, as passing out smiles for no reason was certainly not usual for him. But returning the greeting, they headed towards the F4 lounge.

All the students stood aside, staring towards them in rapt attention, making way for them like people did for royalty in the older times of history. But perhaps comparison with royalty was not entirely wrong either, as they were recognized kings of Shinhwa.

Entering the lounge, Jun pyo went straight towards the surveillance system, to see if that commoner had arrived yet. But to his great disappointment, she was not seen anywhere on the school campus. Thinking of looking for her friends to see if any of them had arrived as of yet, he didn't find any of them either.

He turned towards Woo bin to ask about his cousin's whereabouts, who was sitting not far away from him on the couch, going through some files on his laptop. He opened his mouth to ask the question when his gaze fell on a large cockroach which was resting peacefully on the top of a small table beside the couch.

His eyes opened wide and a look of terror crossed his face as he let out a loud shriek! Everyone turned towards him, surprised, to see what was wrong.

By now, he had gotten up from the couch and was hiding behind its side, peeking around to see if the cockroach was still there. To his momentary relief, the cockroach was no longer on a small table. He let out a sigh of relief, before looking around to see if it was somewhere else. He yelled on the top of his lungs when he saw the offending cockroach sitting on the couch, just a couple of feet away from him. Getting away from the couch, he went towards the games section of the lounge, hoping it wouldn't follow him, but to his utter disappointment and shock, the cockroach was flying right behind him.

The others were watching this with no small amount of amusement, and were having a difficult time not laughing out loud.

"Get rid of it!" He shouted. His friends got up with a smile to help him, thinking where it would have come from, as the lounge was kept impeccably clean all the time. But to their surprise, it escaped every time someone went near it, before going after Jun pyo again.

Finally, after running around for a while, Woo bin managed to catch it in an empty glass container, which was used as a snack container before.

Bringing it closer to his face for observation, Woo bin let out a chuckle, "It's not even a real cockroach Jun pyo," he said while passing the jar to Yi Jung, who confirmed Woo bin's statement with an amused smile playing on his face.

Saying, "He's right Jun pyo. It's just a toy made of plastic"

He passed the container to Ji hoo, who said, "More likely, it's a remote controlled cockroach." Pointing towards it's odd antennas.

He was about to open the lid of the container, but was stopped by Jun pyo hurriedly taking the container away from his hands to prevent him from taking cockroach out, before realising he had taken a cockroach in his hands. Immediately he dropped it with a yelp as though the container was physically hurting him. This ensured another round of chuckles from guys as Gu Jun pyo sulked.

"But where did it come from?" Yi Jung wondered, but unfortunately, they didn't have any answer.

"Once I find out whoever did this, they are dead." Jun pyo exclaimed.

Unbeknownst to him, four girls, who were cause of his recent misery and the other ups and downs in F4's lives, were watching the happenings of the F4 lounge in no small amount of amusement. Having bugged the surveillance system of the school the day before, Song Navya had access to all the footage CCTV cameras in school recorded, and a camera in the lounge was included in it.

All four of them were sitting in the Shinhwa school gardens, as there weren't any cameras there. "I hope he stops his pranks on Jan di after this." Ga eul sighed, getting up from the marble chair set around the table they were sitting at. A holographic projector was placed on the top of the table, displaying the happenings of the F4 lounge.

The others agreed with her, and went towards their classes. Unbeknownst to them, their conversation and live footage of cockroach incident was heard and recorded by the mean trio of Shinhwa high, also known as Gin-sun-min, who were hiding behind shrubs in the garden.

"I'm going to show this to Gu Jun pyo oppa, let's see how he doesn't take his order for not getting involved in their matters back!" Said Ginger, pointing towards recording of V4 on her phone, still humiliated and seething over the way Princess Song had behaved with her to defend that commoner, and hurt over the way Gu Jun pyo had taken their side.

But she was too afraid to go against either of their direct orders, because no matter how bitchy she seemed, Princess Song was heiress of the Song clan and was a family member of their beloved Song Woo bin oppa, and she was dangerous in her own right. And there was no way any of them were going against Gu Jun pyo's orders. But perhaps, with the backing of F4, they would be able to get rid of the other three of V4 and with them, hopefully Song Navya as well. Although with commoners gone, they won't really have many problems with Princess Song as she was oppa's cousin and her friend, Ha Jae Kyung, was relatively unknown as no one had dared to dig up anything on her after Jun pyo's warning, but apparently she was rich enough to keep the environment of Shinhwa unpolluted. Miranda and Sunny agreed with her, and they went towards the F4 lounge to complete their mission.

Soon, the mean trio of Shinhwa high reached the F4 lounge, where Gu Jun pyo was still stuck to the surveillance system and Ji hoo was taking a nap on his bean bag. Song Woo bin and So yi Jung were not in the lounge anymore. Bursting inside the lounge with constant chatter and noise, the trio went towards the couch where Jun pyo was sitting. Noticing the cockroach they had seen on princess Song's freaky holograph projecting tablet, Sunny poked Ginger, making her yelp and pointed towards the glass container. All three of them gasped, their palms covering their mouths for dramatic effect. Jun pyo, and Ji hoo who had woken up due to all the noise, watched the three of them, bemused.

All three of them started speaking at once, with varying expressions on their faces. "Oppa! We caught them!", " It was them who did it oppa!", "We knew they were trouble! We even have proof oppa!", " Oppa, you need to take your orders back!"

Not able to understand a single word, Ji hoo leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to ignore their presence all together. Getting tired of their constant meaningless chatter, Jun pyo turned his focus back towards the TV screen. When it became apparent that neither of the F4 were paying any attention to them, they became quiet.

When they were finally quiet, Jun pyo commanded, "Get out," in a cold voice without shifting his eyes away from the TV screen.

Hearing this made them start again, "But oppa!" Sunny whined.

"You need to hear us out!" Miranda continued.

Ginger was about to continue Miranda's sentence, when Jun pyo cut her off, "Don't you dare assume you know what I need. And either speak one person at a time, or shut up and get out." He said in the same cold manner, not moving his gaze away from TV. Noticing their closed mouths, Ji hoo, who was covering his ears with his hands to mute the noise, released a sigh of relief before removing his hands from his ears.

Jun pyo's order managed to calm their excitement down, Ginger took the lead, pulling out her phone, she played the video and placed it in Jun pyo's line of view. Noticing the commoner and her friends in the video, he kept his eyes trained on the video in front of him, to see Princess Song controlling the cockroach they had found in the lounge and the live video playing on a holographic projector between them. He kept a tight lid on his emotions, as the video proceeded. But his frustration melted away without his noticing when he saw a dry cleaner smile towards the end. Keeping his face expressionless, he flashed his eyes towards the trio, asking them in a mean voice which was colder than before.

"What part of not interfering in any issue concerning F4 or V4, do you three not get?" He took the phone in his hands and threw it to the ground, fury clear on his face, "Put your noses where they don't belong one more time and all of you are dead. Now get out of here." He thundered, and they scurried off from the lounge.

Letting out a sigh, he sat back on the couch and leaned back, closing his eyes. "V4 is giving back as good as they got, Jun pyo." Ji hoo stated with an amused smile, making Jun pyo groan out aloud. Getting his phone out, he typed, 'red alert, urgent meeting in lounge' before pressing send to Yi Jung and Woo bin.

Yi Jung and Woo bin, both were already heading towards the lounge when they received Jun pyo's text, they reached the lounge soon after reading his text, thinking about what could have happened to make Jun pyo invoke red alert for the first time after its creation,which was about ten years ago, and was supposed to mean emergency situation.

Woo bin entered first, asking "What's wrong Jun pyo? What happened?" In a frantic voice.

"Get settled first and let's wait for Yi Jung to arrive first." Ji hoo replied in an amused voice, with a smile playing on his face.

Yi Jung entered the lounge as soon as he said this, "Is everything alright Jun pyo?" He asked in a somewhat calmer voice than Woo bin.

Letting out a chuckle, again Ji hoo replied, "Get comfortable guys, it's gonna be a long story." When he noticed Jun pyo was still sulking.

They sat down in the chairs adjacent to the couch, and Woo bin asked, "Now, are you guys going to tell us what is wrong? Why did you send the red alert text jun pyo?" With confusion.

Instead of answering the question, Jun pyo asked, "What were you two able to find out about the dry cleaners friends?" With a neutral expression, giving nothing away.

"I'm sorry, what?" Asked a confused and irritated Yi Jung. He was hoping Jun pyo would let it all go. If he did then he wouldn't have to bother with Chu Ga eul, who was confusing him in every way possible, and even worse, he actually liked talking with her. He felt the need to maintain his distance from her, she was the sort of girl he didn't like. But unfortunately he was feeling some sort of pull towards her. Thankfully the feeling seemed mutual and she was maintaining a distance from him as well.

Woo bin too looked up sharply, remembering his last encounter with Ha Jae Kyung. Noticing Jun pyo's silence on the matter, Ji hoo explained with a smile, "Guess who might have pulled 'The cockroach prank' on our mighty leader this morning?" Seeing their confused expressions on this, he further said, "You never said your cousin is a prankster Woo bin ah." With a smirk on his face.

Finally catching on, Woo bin slammed his hand on his forehead. "Of course she is. Who else would have done that?" He said with a mix of amusement and irritation.

"It was so obvious. She even warned you before she left yesterday." Yi Jung said to Jun pyo, amused, remembering the prank played on him, as his previous irritation with a certain painter was forgotten.

"Yah! Stop laughing and tell me what information you have on two of her friends!" Said Jun pyo, his hands folded in front of his chest and lips dangerously close to pout.

Trying to control their chuckles as he sulked, they shared a glance, not knowing how to pacify him.

Jun pyo turned towards Yi Jung, and asked, "Yi Jung ah, What did you find out about anyone of them?"

"Um, Miss Chu loves painting?" Yi Jung replied, not knowing what else to say. But this seemed enough for Jun pyo as a large smile spread across his face.

Turning towards Woo bin, who was leaning back on his chair with his eyes closed. "Woo bin ah?" Jun pyo prompted.

"Ha heiress loves her car." He replied, in a neutral tone, without changing his position.

The smile on Jun pyo's face became even wider, and he finally turned towards Ji hoo. "Ji hoo ah? Anything on Princess Song?" He asked eagerly.

The smile slipped from Ji hoo's face and his eyes became a bit wider in surprise. He didn't really think Jun pyo would involve him in his silly games. Thinking back on his encounter with her in the music room, he replied, perplexed, "Um, she's a guitarist?"

Jun pyo nodded towards all of them while rubbing his hands together, with a wide grin on his face. Clearly pleased with information he had in his hands.

* * *

Thank you so much for all the reviews, and thank you kyliEisMC2 for editing!

I can definitely say next couple of chapters are gonna be fun!

I Hope you guys like it! And even if you don't, let me know in reviews.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_**Few hours later, the same day, Shinhwa high.**_

After a tiring lecture on organic chemistry, Chu Ga eul was desperate to reach the art studio as soon as she could. She told her friends that she would see them later before heading towards the art studio. She had tried her best to stay away from the art studio, fearing for certain potter's presence there, but after being away from the place for a week, which had become solace for her, she decided to face him head on if he was indeed there, not able to stay away from first love of her life, her art. '_After all, running away from something doesn't make that thing disappear, we only end up delaying the inevitable.' _Besides, after thinking, she had concluded that he was indeed only after information, '_perhaps, giving him minimal information would keep him at bay?'_ She thought while going towards the art studio.

After her first encounter with So Yi Jung in the porridge shop, she was afraid of her own reaction towards him. She was affected by his single smile, and that was a new thing for her. He was a well known Casanova, famous in the whole Republic of Korea for his talent in pottery and his playboy ways. And she had been attracted towards him, more than she had ever been towards anyone in her life.

At first she had tried to tell herself that it was just that, a silly attraction. But her heart wasn't ready to accept this as truth. She had just met him, but she felt like she had known him for many years, like he was not at all a stranger, but a long lost friend instead. But the possibility of him being connected to her was equal to none. Unfortunately for her, logic was not enough to convince her heart. She had told herself she would find her soulmate one day, and the possibility of a casanova being her soulmate was even lesser than the possibility of him being connected to her. Thankfully, he had asked about her connection with Ha Jae Kyung and Song Navya on that day, or she would have completely let her guard down around him. So being a sensible person, she had decided to maintain as much distance from him as possible.

Somewhere deep inside, she knew all her logical explanations and attempts to stay far from him or to keep him at bay were going to be fruitless, although she won't realise this for a long time.

She reached the art studio and peaked inside to see if he was there, ready to dash if he was, despite her earlier resolve. Letting out a sigh of relief when the dark haired potter was nowhere in sight, she went towards the painting section, with a cheerful smile on her face and slight bounce in her step. Once she was in the painting section, she looked around, confused to see no one around. Even more confusing was the absence of canvas boards which were always kept neatly in the art studio. Smelling something fishy with everything, she went towards the furniture adjacent to the wall, and opened the drawers with a frown on her beautiful face, to be even more confused with absence of colours and paint brushes in the drawers, which were usually filled with painting supplies. She turned around, going towards the mahogany hardwood furniture on the other side of the painting section, looking through all the drawers and shelves, in hopes of finding something but to her surprise, nothing was there. She sighed, before going towards the sketching section to look around for charcoal or even a graphite pencil, but she was even more shocked when not even a pencil or paper were found. She huffed in annoyance, putting her hands on her waist. All she wanted to do was paint after a particularly difficult lecture, but apparently it was not possible.

Thinking about going to the teacher about such a surprising state of Shinhwa's painting section, she went to the teacher's room with long strides through hallways of Shinhwa. She was hoping to find the art teacher there, to inquire about the lack of supplies in the painting and sketching section of the art studio. But to her bitter disappointment, she found out he was on leave. Not being the one to accept defeat, she went to the principal's office, where she found out all the painting and sketching supplies were removed from the art studio as per F4's wishes, until further notice.

* * *

_**At the same time.**_

After Ga eul left, the others went their own ways. Navya followed the path which had become usual for her. Going towards the music room, she thought about what Gu Jun Pyo's next action would be. If she was correct, then he wasn't one to stay down quietly after being attacked. They were quite similar in that aspect. And she was certain that he would strike soon, but she wasn't ready for how soon that would be.

She was thinking about how Gu Jun Pyo would react to their morning prank when she reached the music room. The music room was full of acoustic, semi electric and electric guitars, along with bass guitars, a ukulele, a banjo, a grand piano, casios, a couple of drum sets, a smaller beatbox and other various musical instruments.

Going inside, the stuffy smell of dust gave the impression that the room was not often used or cleaned. Apparently, the music room in Shinhwa was one place where no one frequented often. She went towards the guitar stand as the thoughts about her last time in this room invaded her mind, and an involuntary amused smile appeared on her face as she remembered her last encounter with the always sleepy member of F4. She absentmindedly picked up the first guitar that came into her view. Noticing something amiss when her fingers touched the fretboard instead of strings, she looked towards the fretboard of the guitar, as she held its neck, to her surprise the guitar in her hand didn't have any string! Huffing in annoyance, she placed the guitar in her hands back in its place, before noticing the other guitars. Not a single guitar in the room had a string. She went towards the furniture in the room and searched around in drawers for extra sets of strings, but to her shock, not even spare sets were available. Sighing in annoyance, she looked around, and to her surprise, not just acoustic, but all the electric and semi electric guitars were without strings as well, hell not even the banjo and ukulele were spared!

String instruments aside, every other type of instrument was perfectly fine.

She sat down on the couch, looking around in annoyance, thinking all guitars being without strings at the same time could not be coincidence, and there are usually ten to fifteen spare string sets in the drawers, they were missing as well! She was surrounded by guitars yet she couldn't play even one. She sighed in disappointment, thinking this was most probably purposefully done by someone, and no one besides F4 would dare to challenge her in school.

* * *

_**Some time later, same day.**_

Jan di was heading back towards the classroom after her much awaited swim. She was in a good mood, with a smile, she opened the door leading to the hallway, humming the tune of some song underneath her breath, feeling refreshed.

All of a sudden, some sticky liquid fell on her head out of nowhere, covering her from head to toe, making her shriek in surprise. As her lips parted in her shock, some of the sticky substance that was covering her lips entered her mouth and she recognized the sweet taste almost immediately, maple , she tried to wipe it from her face to keep it from dripping into her eyes but her hair was annoyingly sticking to her face, making her feel itchy and look even more like a mess. She moved from that spot as soon as she got over her shock. Looking up, she blinked and tried to remove the syrup from her eyes again with her hands. Any thoughts of getting clean were paused when she saw a bucket on the top of the door, attached to the door seal in such a way that when the door was opened, the contents of the bucket would fall down on the head of the person who was passing by.

She huffed in annoyance trying to suppress the urge to scream. Looking for the handkerchief in her pockets, she noticed that she didn't have any on her. Unable to stop herself any longer, She screamed in frustration, closing her eyes shut and balling her hands into fists. Her nostrils flared as she thought about the one who was responsible for this stupid prank.

She stormed off towards the exit stairs beyond the glass door, which was in front of her. She hoped to get out of the godforsaken building as soon as possible. Standing on the top of the stairs and leaning on the railings of the staircase, she filled her lungs with air, before screaming as loud as she could, "Arrrggghhh! Gu Jun Pyo, you're like Gu Jung Mool (dirty water)! F4, you guys are like flies! If you are born blessed, you should shut up and live your lives gratefully! And someone like you who has no common sense being the successor of the Shinhwa Group is a nuisance to the nation! You, I warn you... don't show your face in front of me. The day I apologise for standing up against bullying is the day I'm driving off the rooftop, I swear I will! Arrggghhh!" She paused to take a breath. She was about to continue when sound of someone clearing their throat fell on her ears.

Turning around, she realised that one of the F4 members, Yoon Ji hoo was standing right behind her, leaning back on the other end of the railings. She would have been embarrassed had it been any other time, but at that moment, she was standing there covered in maple syrup from head to toe, with sticky hairs and clothes and she wanted to continue screaming to let out her frustration. She didn't care to be embarrassed.

She faced him with a raised eyebrow and folded her arms, a furious expression on her face. To her surprise, he gave a slight smile, and took out a handkerchief from his pocket, before going towards her and trying to clean her face with it.

She was shocked beyond words. She was expecting him to mock her, but here he was, helping her instead. Taking the handkerchief from his hands, she cleaned up her face well enough before turning to him again, she asked in a softer voice, "Why?"

"Why what?" He asked, seeming genuinely confused about what she was asking.

"Why… Why are you, the F4, doing this? Why do you guys bully other students? Why.. Why are you helping me right now?" She asked with frustration clear in her voice, frown on her face and her eyes clenched shut, before sitting down on her knees with a thud, her hands covering her face.

He too sat down on a knee, with his one knee touching the ground and his hand placed on his other knee.

"Annoying you is amusing." He replied with a teasing tone. She shot a sharp gaze towards him. Sighing, he became serious, "This is a game Geum Jan di, and no one has dared to play with F4 or Jun pyo before. And now Jun pyo has a worthy competitor. Besides, he doesn't bully just anyone Geum Jan di, I've told you before, You don't understand everything." He got up, and leaned back on the railings, saying, "Besides, I'm not helping you. I was passing by and you were screaming. So I stopped to ask if you know how to make pancakes," in a completely neutral voice, as though he has a habit of stopping when he sees screaming girls to ask them for pancakes recipe.

She snorted in disbelief, "Yeah right."

He just stared at her, waiting. When she raised a questioning brow, he further said, "So, do you know how to make pancakes?"

* * *

_**Few hours later, Shinhwa high**_.

The last bell had rung and everyone was leaving for their homes. V4 met up and were heading towards the parking lot, thinking about the eventful day they had with varying expressions on their face, although one emotion was common, frustration.

All of them were tired, and wanted to go home as soon as possible and share the happenings of the day with each other. Soon they reached the parking area as they were walking quite fast, and looked for their cars. All of a sudden, Ha Jae kyung let out a shriek, looking towards her car. Navya's hand flew to her mouth, Geum Jan di, who was in her gym clothes after taking a shower and cleaning up and Chu Ga eul were astonished as well. Someone had dared to mess with their cars.

Ha Jae kyung ran towards her grey Porsche, which was parked beside a similar black one belonging to Navya. Both cars were covered in thick plastic warps. Ha jae kyung tried to remove a layer with her hands, but unfortunately she didn't even manage to tear the upper layer of plastic. Crying out in frustration, she turned towards others, all of whom had followed her to the cars. Astonishment was clear on everyone's face. Not many students were present in the parking lot, having left earlier. But those who were present, were staring towards them.

All of them were thinking about what they should do about the cars and about hysterical Ha Jae Kyung, when a fast red sports car rushed towards them. At the last moment, the driver pressed the break, screeching of tires was heard as he took a narrow turn, with the smell of rubber due to friction of tires in the air. Stopping right beside them, the driver opened the window of his car.

To their shock, Gu Jun pyo was the driver of that car! Wearing black sunglasses and an arrogant smirk on his face, he asked, "Need a lift V4? I heard your cars were… indisposed."

The expressions on all their faces were furious. Ha Jae kyung shrieked, before going towards Jun pyo's car in a couple of strides and kicking the front tire of his car while glaring towards him.

Watching with a bemused expression, he turned his head towards Geum Jan di and Song Navya, whose faces were absolutely blank, he said, "Yah! What's wrong with your friend? She's acting like a monkey! V4 call your monkey back!"

Hearing this, Ha Jae kyung turned towards him, with the intention of punching that smug smile off his face. Something about her expression told Jun pyo as much, he gave them a mocking smile before closing the window and speeding off, leaving a frustrated V4 behind.

Sighing, Navya got her phone out and called her people to call for a car. Soon, a black Mercedes Benz was standing in front of them. Getting into the front seat while the others got into the back seat of the car, Navya ordered the driver to make sure cars were taken care of, before they left for Jan di's place.

* * *

_**After some time, Geum residence.**_

V4 were sitting on a couch and chairs around a small table in the living room, while eating from bowls of ramen in their hands after about 15 minutes of returning from school. Thinking about what happened over the course of the day.

They discussed everything that had happened and whatever they had found out. "The principal told me the painting supplies were removed from the art studio on F4's order." Ga eul said, with a thoughtful expression on her face, her eyes fixed on the chopsticks as she pulled the noodles out and threaded them loosely over her chopsticks.

"We know F4 is responsible for the maple syrup incident. He said and I quote, 'Annoying you is amusing. This is a game Geum Jan di, and no one has dared to play with F4 or Jun pyo before. And now Jun pyo has a worthy competitor." Jan di said with a sigh.

"They are responsible for our cars as well." Jae kyung told them, while focusing on her ramen.

Navya was listening carefully, she replied, "Not a single guitar in the music room had strings when I went there. And only one person who knew about my guitar playing was Yoon Ji hoo," in a cold voice.

Jae kyung and Ga eul stared at her, connecting the dots in their heads. "I'm going to make sure your cousin pays for this! No one besides him knows a single thing about me in whole freaking school! It's obvious Song Woo bin gave Gu Jun pyo information about me!" Jae kyung exclaimed, causing others to look at her in surprise. This was the first time she was talking about Song Woo bin with any other emotion besides dejection. Agreed it was anger now, but at least it was better than being dejected.

"So Yi Jung was not looking for information about just you two, he was searching for information about me as well!" Ga eul said with wide eyes full of shock, her hand flying towards her mouth in surprise. Now it was her turn to be stared at.

Navya asked a question that was on everyone's mind, "When did So Yi Jung manage to catch you alone exactly?"

Ga eul sighed, before saying, "A few days ago he came to the porridge shop when it was my shift, and the day after that in the art studio."

Others nodded at this, correctly guessing there was more to the story than she was telling but no one pressed, knowing when she was comfortable she would tell them whatever it was.

"What should we do now?" Asked Ga eul.

Jae kyung replied, fury still in her voice, "I don't know about you guys, but Song Woo bin is going to pay for messing with my car."

Others shared a glance, Ga eul said, "I'm not going to sit still while these guys start messing with our lives as well," with a firm voice.

"I agree with Ga eul. Now, what do we know about these guys?" Asked Geum Jan di, trying to figure out the best way to handle the problem.

"I'm not going against my cousin." Navya said while looking them in the eyes, remembering her conversion with him when he told her the same thing. "But you may do whatever you please." She continued while looking at Jae kyung, who nodded in understanding.

"I might have an idea about how to give So Yi Jung a payback." Ga eul said with a wicked smile, "He seems like a person who loves himself and is confident no matter what after all." She continued.

"I'm done with their stupid pranks! I've got something in mind for Gu Jung mool as well." Jan di said, making the others snort at her new nickname for Gu Jun Pyo.

"Alright, Let's do this then." Navya nodded, with a smirk.

Ha Jae kyung, who was quiet until now, nodded and got up, placing her bowl on the table and picking up her phone, she walked a small distance so as to be out of earshot.

Calling someone, she made some plans and arrangements before joining others. Sitting down, she said, "Well, My plan starts tonight. And all of you are coming with me." Without leaving any room for argument.

* * *

_**Same night, around 2 am, Geum residence**_.

Jae kyung's plan was ready to be launched, all the preparations were made and now all that remained was the execution. All the girls were in their Vixen suits, which were dark coloured catsuits, with a facial mask. Navya and Ga eul's long hair were tied in tight single braids.

Getting into their cars, with a half dozen black cars following them, they headed towards Shinhwa high. The moon was shining bright in the dark night sky, and the roads were lit with street lights. Racing fast on the empty roads of Seoul, they soon reached the locked gates and the security check post of Shinhwa. All cars stopped behind two Porsches. Couple of security guards were present on the main gate, but luck was favouring vixens. Both the guards were sound asleep. Yellow lights on the Shinhwa gates were brightly lit, making everything clearly visible.

Ga eul, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the black Porsche, handed the laptop on her lap to Navya, who had stopped the car right beside Jae kyung's car. Typing furiously, she turned the security cameras of school off. Getting out of the car with laptop in her hands, she went towards the control panel of the gate besides the sleeping security guard without making a sound. Connecting the laptop to the control panel, she managed to find the code to open the gate. With a screeching sound, the main gate and automatic barrier inside the gate both opened.

Getting back inside the car, she spoke on her ear piece, "Ready to go," before turning on the ignition of the car, and going inside.

The other cars followed her closely. Instead of heading towards parking as they always do, they went straight towards the main building of the school. One where F4's lounge was located. Once they were in front of the main building of the school, they got out. All six black cars following them stopped as well, and nearly twenty four men, four from each car, got out of the cars with what appeared like a number of paint containers and other supplies.

Sharing a glance with each other, as they stood in front of the main building of Shinhwa high, they nodded to the men under their command. Campus of Shinhwa was absolutely silent at the dead of the night, with silently lit yellow lights and not a single guard in sight. Not even the sound of bugs was to be heard as they made their way across the courtyard.

They ascended the steps leading towards the gate of the building, but stopped short when they noticed the manual metal lock on the gate. Thankfully, picking locks was part of training they went through for a large part of their lives. Nodding towards the others, Navya took out a pin from her hairs, and managed to pick the lock in a couple of minutes. Following her, all of them entered inside the building. Although outside campus had lights, the same wasn't the case for the main building. Not even a single light was on in the building. They took out their flash torches, avoiding turning on the main light switch in case some guards were on campus and they hadn't noticed.

Soon, they were on the top floor of the building, where the F4 lounge was. Ha Jae kyung nodded towards others, silently asking them to follow her lead, the others complied. Going inside, they turned the lights on and put the supplies down, and completely changed the interior of the lounge in accordance with Ha Jae kyung's plan, guiding all the men with them to make sure everything was executed properly in the next hour. Noticing a violin case placed in the lounge, Navya smirked.

They successfully executed Jae kyung's plan, and headed back towards their cars, after turning off the lights and securing the lock back on the gate. Once outside the campus, they were amused to see guards still sleeping peacefully. Turning all the systems on and shutting the gates, they rushed back home, desperate for some sleep.

One thing was for sure, the F4 were in for a great shock on the upcoming day.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

_**The next day, Song mansion**_.

The sun was already up in the sky, and Song Woo Bin was still twisting and turning in an unrestful sleep. The curtains were suddenly drawn open, and the bright rays of the sun fell on his face, waking him up. Moving his comforter aside with a hand he sat up, his hair sticking up in all directions messily. Getting up, he freshened up before picking up his phone, to see it was already half-past ten. He sat down on his bed and opened the lock on his phone screen with a fingerprint scan. Surprised to see so many missed calls from So Yi Jung and Gu Jun Pyo he decided to call them back after a quick brunch. Getting ready, he headed towards the breakfast parlour.

It was the first time in a while that he had slept in. Although he was glad he wasn't woken up for the training he along with Navya still had to go through. They were still going through it almost every day with his father coming up with various ways to train or rather torture them, he kind of missed the training session with Navya. The purpose of the training session was still lost on him, and according to his guess, on his cousin as well.

He hadn't realised how much someone's presence can impact the lives around them without even their knowing it. The presence of V4 was working in a somewhat positive way in F4's lives, he mused as he walked towards breakfast parlour. After all, Jun Pyo was playing pretty much harmless pranks for fun on the girls, instead of purely out of revenge, unlike the previous times. Yi Jung seemed different somehow too. Although he hadn't said anything, Woo bin had seen the way his best friend glanced towards a certain painter in V4. He was hoping to see a positive change there as well. As for Yoon Ji hoo, they had never seen him doing much besides sleeping, playing music or spending time with kids, but his knowledge about Navya's hobby of playing the guitar came as a surprise to him, although he was just hoping no one would get hurt among all his friends including girls. Even her, he thought, after all, no matter what happened, he could never wish any harm to her. He would gladly put his life on the line if it meant she would be happy. It was the only reason he didn't hop on the first flight back to the states when… he sighed, running his fingers through his reddish-brown hair.

As for himself? He thought with a self-deprecating smile, how could someone avoid pain when it was performing the role of most faithful companion for the last few years? He didn't even remember how it felt to be truly happy, not since that day when he received the most dreaded text from the person closest to his heart. But thinking about the past was useless, he tried to tell himself when all of a sudden their last encounter from a few days ago came to his mind. He could remember all her features clearly. Her expressive eyes, her pink lips, her straight nose, her hair, even her minty breath… all of it was just... The way he remembered... She herself was just the way he remembered, not a bit of her was changed, if something had changed then it was him, his life, their relation with each other and clearly the way she felt for him.

He sighed, trying to shrug off his depressing thoughts as he reached the parlour and sat down on the chair. A maid brought eggs and toast and placed them in front of him, while the other one poured steaming hot coffee in his cup. Enjoying the smell of the fresh brew, he took a bite of the eggs served in front of him. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was missing an essential part of his life. The same feeling was haunting him ever since he got her text, and now that she was here, it was much more intensified.

He still remembered the text she sent, it was the first thing he saw when he woke up in the morning. She had said she was ashamed of him for the work his family did, for their connection to the mafia. She even asked him not to contact him afterwards, although in much harsher words. If she had a problem with him because of what his family did, then she didn't deserve to know the secret of his family, he had decided. But when his resolve broke and he tried to call her later, he couldn't even reach her number, she had blocked him apparently.

He had delved into drinking and spending time with random women after that, slowly gaining a reputation of Don Juan for himself, hoping to find her essence in someone, but not a single one of them could compete with her, and now that she was here? He couldn't spend a single moment with all those women, not since their last encounter. He couldn't even look at any of his previous contacts in the eyes after his cousin picked him up from that night club. Her presence with his cousin was most surprising to him, 'if her problem was his family, then what was she doing with Navya?' He knew he couldn't say anything to Navya, knowing she won't listen. Additionally, he wasn't even sure if their newly formed bond would be able to survive such a strain. And he remembered her words clearly that she didn't expect him to go against his friends, so how could he ask her to do so? Even if he was sceptical of Ha Jae Kyung's friendship with her.

He finished his brunch with the thought that either she lied to him, or she's deceiving Navya, but that didn't sound believable to his own ears. Because in all months he had known her, she never lied to him. Besides, why would she lie to him? But if that wasn't the case then why would she deceive Navya? Little did he know that his heart was leading him in the right direction. There was indeed much more to the story than what met the eyes.

He got into his car before heading towards school. Blaring the sound of music at its highest to keep all thoughts away from his mind, he sped off. Parking his car once he reached the school and ignoring everyone on his way, he went straight towards the lounge, hoping to find his friends there. To his relief, Yi Jung and Jun Pyo were there, playing a game of cards. In his melancholy state of mind, he went to sit on the couch with others without noticing the new interior decoration of the lounge.

Noticing his absentmindedness, Yi Jung nudged him before asking him with a smirk, "It seems you like the new interiors Woo bin ah."

"Huh?" He asked, confused, before noticing a hideous shade of pink covering all the walls in the lounge, with a message graffitied on the wall in front of him saying:

Hope you guys like a little gift from us

-V4

"WHAT THE HELL?" He yelled.

Only his closest friends knew how much he despised pink as a colour. He got up, clenching his fists and closing his eyes, thinking about any other person who knew just how much he hated pink, he knew Navya wouldn't do anything that would directly go against him after the conversion they had, which means only one person could have done this, the girl whose thoughts he was trying to avoid desperately. Although he was surprised and a little bit pleased to note that she remembered such an insignificant detail about him, he was still annoyed. If this was how she wanted to renew their acquaintance, then he had no qualms with playing along.

"My eyes are hurting with all this pink colour surrounding us. And I need to send the return gift for this new interior decoration." With narrowed eyes, he headed towards the door, leaving the others highly amused. While they too didn't like the new change in interior decor, they weren't affected as much as him.

* * *

_**The same day, Shinhwa high**_.

Yoon Ji hoo was wandering around the school, looking for his beloved violin. Although he could have asked someone to find it for him, he was intrigued, and this was the first time he was enjoying Jun Pyo's squabbles, although the reason was unclear to even himself. He had made sure to stay away from all the bullying Jun Pyo enjoyed, but this wasn't bullying anymore, this was a prank war between F4 and V4. And he was more than willing to move his weight for his own amusement.

He was the first to arrive at school this morning. Enjoying the fresh air the early morning provided, he parked his motorbike in the parking area. He then headed straight towards the lounge due to having no interest in mixing with other students of the school. Once he reached outside the lounge, he noticed that the door was open, and the smell of fresh paint was looming around in the air. Pushing the wooden door, he went inside and was shocked to see the state lounge was in. All the walls of the lounge were covered in a hideous shade of pink. Although he didn't have any problem with a pink colour in general, this particular shade was difficult for him to bear as well. Besides the colour, the cushions on the couch were replaced with pink ones too. And a lot of stuffed toys were placed all around.

As he went towards the couch, he noticed a graffitied message on the wall in front of him. He couldn't help his amusement as he saw V4 referring to the mess in the lounge as a gift. Deciding to escape the lounge with his violin before he became colourblind, he turned towards his violin's usual place, but was shocked to see it wasn't there! Going towards the glass shelf he kept his violin in, he opened the glass door, only to find strings of his beloved violin there, with a note in clean handwriting attached to it, saying, "_Find it if you can_." His amusement soon turned into annoyance. Picking up the strings and note, he stormed out of the lounge.

But now that he thought about it, he was no longer as annoyed as he was at that moment. Sure he was missing his violin, but now he also had a revenge to plan. Because no one can mess with his violin and get away with it!

He was thinking about where his violin could be, and why exactly it was stolen. It was clear V4 was one behind the disappearance of his violin, as they were the only one who would dare to do so. Besides he had noticed the precision with which strings were removed, they weren't yanked out as any non-musical person might have done but were released slowly, with the patience of a music lover. It made him sure exactly which member of V4 had hidden his violin. At least he wasn't worried about the condition it could be in, because remembering Navya's expression as she played the guitar, he was sure she was as incapable of harming any musical instrument as he was. But he couldn't come up with an answer for why she was attacking him, having no idea about the condition of guitars in the music room.

Remembering their first encounter in the music room, he decided to go there. Placing his hands in his pockets as he walked, he was gawked by students of Shinhwa, which wasn't unusual for him. Soon he reached the music room, and the smell of dust entered his nose. Ignoring the smell as he always did, he went towards guitars and banjos in the room.

Running his finger on a black coloured guitar, he picked it up, immediately noticing the lack of strings it had. Crouching down to sit on his haunches in front of the guitar stand, he noticed not a single instrument had strings.

He sighed, and got up, looking around. To his disappointment, his violin was nowhere in sight. But at least, now he knew why it was missing.

* * *

_**Sometime later**_.

The gym class was just released, and So Yi Jung was desperate for a shower. Informing the other members of F4, he went towards the bathroom, while the others stayed around, still passing the basketball around. Yi Jung was into sports and outdoor activities as much as any other guy and believed there was nothing more refreshing than a shower after a good basketball game. There was maybe an exception for when it came to having a couple of hours spent making a vase or dedicated to pottery, but that was his personal opinion, one he knew even his friends wouldn't agree with.

Going inside, he shed his sweaty gym clothes and tied a towel around his waist, before taking out a pair of comfortable, casual clothes and hanging it outside the shower stall. Usually, all of the F4 members avoided public bathrooms, but there was a separate private bathroom for F4 attached to Shinhwa gymnasium.

Unbeknownst to him, Chu Ga Eul was keeping an eye on his movements from the beginning of the day, and found a perfect opportunity as soon as he went to take a shower, having heard his conversation with other boys before as she was not far from where the guys were. Taking her phone out, she moved away and called someone. Speaking in hushed tones, she nodded towards two guys wearing Shinhwa uniforms, who were standing in the sitting area, although their faces weren't familiar to anyone. Receiving her signal, they went into the bathroom, where Yi Jung was showering in the stall, his fresh clothes hanging just outside. The air had become misty due to the hot spray of water, giving them a steamy cloud to help with their stealth. Picking up the fresh pair of clothes Yi Jung had placed outside his shower stall, they placed them in their backpacks and went out. Leaving So Yi Jung behind, unaware of the predicament he was about to find himself in.

Feeling refreshed after a quick shower, Yi Jung came outside to change his clothes. To his shock, the clothes he had placed there were nowhere in sight! Cursing underneath his breath, he thought about what to do. Checking on his other stuff, he was bit revealed to find just his fresh clothes were missing, The sweaty clothes he had worn before, his mobile phone, wristwatch, and everything else in his backpack was still accounted for.

Reluctantly picking up his mobile, he called Woo bin, knowing there was no way he would be able to live this down for a long time.

* * *

_**The same day, F4 lounge**_.

Gu Jun Pyo was pacing in a now pink coloured lounge, thinking about what he should do to counter the pink lounge prank. Everyone else was busy elsewhere, and he was the only one in the lounge. Truth be told, he himself wanted to get out of the lounge, but it was still better than the constant staring and whispering he was forced to endure while he was among the other students of the school. He was forced to bear with this behaviour ever since he could remember, and it had made him cold and unfeeling towards them. Geum Jan di, along with the rest of the V4, was the first who dared to call him out on his behaviour. He was pleasantly surprised to have a challenge after all these years. What started as an obsession to make that commoner apologize was now a fun prank war. Their retaliation was making everything worth it. He was reminded of the times when all of them were kids and F4 used to prank each other.

A large grin was on his face as he remembered their childhood days when everything was much simpler. He was astonished that those girls had managed to colour the entire lounge without getting caught. He was immersed in his thoughts when he heard an excited scream outside the door. Looking at the closed door in annoyance, with a scowl on his face, he thought about going outside to see who was causing nuisance. But he thought better of it and he continued with his pacing.

Unbeknownst to him, an unknown girl in Shinhwa uniform, ran downstairs from the lounge and excitedly announced that she heard Gu Jun Pyo say, whichever girl in the school managed to bear with him, no matter how angry he got and stayed with him no matter how much he pushed her away, she would be the only one worthy of being his girlfriend.

This news somehow spread all over the campus within a few minutes and every girl was out to become Jun Pyo's girlfriend. Every girl was willing to bear with his temper, his antics. They were waiting for him to come outside, with many gifts in their hands as evidence of their undying love. Each and every one of them wanted to become the girlfriend of the Shinhwa heir.

* * *

Thank you all for reading and reviewing.. I apologise but I don't think I will be able to update the story for few days at least. Covid-19 is having great impact on everyone's lives. Hopefully everything will be under control soon enough...

Stay safe and take good care!


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

_**Few hours later, Same day.**_

After an eventful day, the F4 were gathered at Yoon Ji hoo's place to discuss the happenings of the day. It was a luxurious and landscaped house, with stylish furniture but still gave off warm feelings as the creamy colour of the walls felt welcoming.

The F4 would usually meet at Song mansion, a place they had practically grown up in. However, at the moment, using Song mansion as a meeting place was currently dangerous for their plans.

The Song family had taken all of them under their wing due to their less than ideal family situations. They were unofficial wards of the Song family ever since they were six years old. Realising how much they mean to each other, and dangers they could be subjected to due to their status, the Song family made sure their ability to defend themselves was excellent, their mental condition was stable, they had approachable parental figures in their lives, they were loved, and most importantly, they knew they had a family. All the F4 members trusted and held Grandfather Song and Woo bin's parents in much higher esteem than anyone else, including their own parents. The Song family was their family, and definitely meant much more to them than their own families.

Jun pyo was kidnapped when he was around six years old. Everyone was worried about him. After a couple of days in captivity, the Gu family received a ransom call. And to everyone's shock, they downright refused to pay, stating that paying once would make Jun pyo much more vulnerable to such attacks by setting the trend. When grandfather Song came to know about this, Jun pyo was rescued as soon as possible due to the Song families involvement. But it was already more than a couple of days when he found out. After that incident, the Song family became more of a family for him than his real family. His noona was the only person in his birth family who cared about him, loved him and vice versa.

Ji hoo's parents had passed away in a car accident when he was merely a child, and his only living relation, his grandfather, abandoned him after this parent's funeral, when he needed him the most. He still missed his family, even his grandfather more than anything, but he had family in the Songs. He found acceptance, care and love from that family. If it wasn't for a dear friend, the Songs, and F4, he would have been much different and definitely a less kind person.

So Yi Jung's family was dysfunctional at best. His parents never had a functional relationship, and it impacted him and his elder brother a great deal. His father was a well known player, and his mother was a pure soul when they were forced to marry. Unfortunately for her, her husband never changed his ways, and it became a constant torment for her. Yi Jung's greatest fear was turning out like his father. Predictably, his father and himself never got along, and the possibility of that happening in days to come was even slimmer. But a ray of hope was he had the Song family to be there for him.

The three were loved like their own children by the Songs, and it was reciprocated equally. They felt the care and love with the Song family they had never experienced with their own families, or had lost in Ji hoo's case.

But their current point of discussion was what should be their next move against V4. It was something worth their time, as it was the first time someone had challenged them, even if that someone was a member of their extended family. And this prevented them from getting bored out of their minds, which was definitely a plus point.

"Was there anything on security camera footage?" Asked Jun pyo, his gaze towards Ji hoo, who was one of the best individuals with tech in the country. Perhaps even the best before V4, but with Navya's arrival, he had a tough competition.

Ji hoo shook his head in negative, his hairs moving along with the movement of his head. Sighing, he said, "there is no footage on cameras from around 2:15 to 4:00 am, so I would assume they were turned off during that time period."

"I don't think we would be able to find anything of footage guys, to be honest I would be concerned if we find anything about how V4 pulled this off, considering the training she'd gone through," Woo bin replied, with a small smile on his lips and tinge of pride in his voice as he talked about his cousin.

"Yah! Woo bin ah! What do you mean by that? All of us went through the Song family training since we all were children! While two of the V4 didn't! We have an advantage over them." Jun pyo said with irritation. Yi Jung and Ji hoo, along with Jun pyo were now staring at Woo bin, waiting for his answer.

Woo bin looked towards them, surprised. "Jun pyo, when a woman is in the position of leader, in a male dominated field, she has to make sure she's not just equal, but better than anyone else in the field. And Navya has been the unofficial leader of the American branch of the Song group of industries since she was fifteen. By that alone, I'd say she can take any of us in a fight with relative ease." Leaning forwards, he continued, "besides I'm not sure if Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul are untrained as we previously thought. I've watched Chu Ga eul practice martial arts, and trust me, she's not a novice. Possibility is, they were trained under grandfather without us knowing about it."

The others were more than a little surprised about this, but it was a minor obstacle for them. Because even if they were trained in combat and espionage, they lacked the fame F4 had gathered over the years.

"How are we going to deal with this then?" Asked Yi Jung, impatiently. He was more than a little irritated with the incident with his missing clothes that afternoon. Something he was teased about mercilessly when his friends found out.

"I say, let's take this on an individual level now. Before it was against a group, now they've gone personal. And I have no problem with following their lead in this matter. Besides, it'll give us freedom to do as we please without getting in each other's way." Ji hoo said with a mischievous smirk playing on his lips, pointing towards Woo bin who was still adamant about not engaging in a prank war against his cousin .

Jun pyo leaned back on the couch, his expression mirroring Ji hoo's, "Sounds good to me." Eager to put the plan into action after all the girls in Shinhwa started following him around like lost puppies, which annoyed him beyond measure. He liked, and in fact needed, his space from the Shinhwa population, thank you very much.

"Fine by me as well," said Yi Jung, a mischievous glint in his eyes, clearly thinking of something to make the score even.

"Works for me." Nodded Woo bin.

"Now, I won't mind having porridge for dinner, what about you guys?" Asked Yi Jung with a smirk.

* * *

In the porridge shop, all girls of V4 were having fun while teasing each other and helping Ga eul and Jan di out. It was not a busy day, there were scarcely any customers in the shop, so they were free to do as they pleased. The aroma of porridge was still lingering in the air. The chef, who was called Master, was busy in the kitchen while sorting his spices and taking care of utensils.

Jae kyung was sitting on a chair with her legs stretched out and crossed on a table. She folded her hands in front of her chest and grinned lazily, "Today was totally worth it. I wonder why we never came to this country before?" She asked no one in general.

"Because you never told us what really happened back then and after watching your reaction we never pressed?" Ga eul said with a raised eyebrow.

"And South Korea was a big 'NO' for you. I wonder how she came here at all!" Jan di supplied, pointing her last statement towards Navya.

Jae kyung sobered up at this. Sitting up straight with a nervous expression on her face, she gazed towards her friends, and decided after everything they did deserve the full story. Not knowing something like this was not fair on them, besides this was only thing in her life that they didn't know. Whatever they knew was because of guess work… but before this, whenever she had tried to open up about this particular topic, she just couldn't bring herself to say anything. She was afraid to face her past, but now that it was standing in front of her, everything didn't seem as daunting as it did before. Or perhaps, facing him again had actually helped her anxiety about this particular topic in some way with help of her friends, They were with her ever since she could remember, and they need to know details about her now that they were in close vicinity of her past.

Sighing, she started, "You remember the holidays before freshman year in high school when Song Woo bin was spending holidays in the states? The one when you two were spending time in Europe?" The others nodded, clearly remembering the time frame she was mentioning. "We… or at least I fell for him," she continued in a small voice, looking away. "And he didn't," she almost whispered. Her face was devoid of any emotion.

Having observed her cousin's reaction to her friend's presence, Song Navya was not ready to believe this assessment. She gently asked, "What made you think that Jae?"

Ha Jae kyung looked up, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. She continued in a soft voice, "I received an email a few months after he went back.. we had decided to be in a long distance relationship.. I was certain that I loved him and that he loved me just as deeply. I had fallen too fast and hard for him… that email was anonymous, but it contained images of few women all over him.. he.. he was cheating on me." And she looked away.

The other girls gasped at this proclamation. "He what? Are you certain those images weren't photoshopped Jae?" Navya asked, unable to believe her ears.

Ha Jae kyung scoffed at this, "Of course I am! Your family made sure all of us know basics like that."

"What did you do afterwards Jae?" Geum Jan di asked calmly, taking the charge of the situation to calm her friend before anything could get out of hands.

She deflated at this, "I.. nothing. I didn't do anything. He might have been cheating on me, but at the time I felt like I needed him in my life despite everything. I waited for him to call me…" looking down and twiddling her fingers, unsure how her friends would react to her statement, she softly continued, "but he never did. No call, nor even a single text message. Nothing."

Daring to look up in the eyes of her friends, she noticed pain, hurt and anger written on their faces.

"Oh Ha Jae Kyung, why did you never tell us about all this?" Ga eul asked, getting up from her seat and going towards Jae kyung, embracing her, hoping to provide some comfort.

"I wasn't ready to confront all that happened. At the time, it just felt like I was somehow not good enough, for anything or anyone. I didn't have strength to open up about it." Ha Jae kyung replied, with a resigned sigh. "But now that he's in front of me, everything just got more real and yet somehow more bearable as well. As though all I needed was to face him to move on in my life." She looked up, a tentative smile forming on her face.

Taking one of her hands in her own, Navya calmly stated, "You are more than good enough Jae, not just for him but in everything you have done in your life. You are a kind, passionate and loving individual who is full of life."

Coming to stand on her other side, Geum Jan di said with a smile, "And trust me Jae, that git never deserved you. And he cheated so that was his fault, not yours. He is not worth your attention."

"Besides, this impromptu prank war is giving us ample opportunity for revenge," Chu Ga eul said with a smile, trying to lift up her mood.

Her attempt worked well enough and Ha Jae kyung started chattering about what she had in mind for the next step in their prank war, and the heavy mood was effectively lifted from the porridge shop.

Geum Jan di and Chu Ga eul resumed their work while Song Navya and Ha Jae kyung were sitting with their laptops open in front of them. All of them were bantering and sending witty remarks back and forth to amuse themselves when three Lotus elise cars and a motorbike parked in front of the small porridge shop.

Three impeccably dressed gentlemen got out of the cars while the fourth individual, equally impeccable in his white suit joined them. With a dimpled smile and dark hair, So Yi Jung fell into step beside their tall, curly haired leader, and all of them went towards the entrance of the porridge shop.

Pushing the glass door back, all of them went inside the shop. With Yi Jung saying, "Didn't I tell you it is quite a place Jun pyo ah?" With a smirk on his face. His eyes were unreadable while others each were sporting the bored look they usually assumed. Thoroughly shocking V4 who were the only ones in the shop except for the Master.

* * *

Hello guys.. so this is the next chapter I guess...

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for reading and reviewing.. your response was really heartwarming guys... And my sincerest apologies for delay in update.

I have to prepare for my university final year exams now as there was uncertainty about whether they would be held or not in my country. Finally the decision of supreme court is that exams must be taken and that too soon, so I have far less time to write and update this story.

Besides this, I was in quarantine. I wasn't in state to write anything unfortunately. This is only chapter I've written so far, and it might take some time to write next one.

As for questions regarding story, about seperation of girls, I'll explain that soon, when flow of story would allow me to. Next, F4 now know about Jun pyo's pranks on girls. Hence their combined efforts in this chapter. Reactions of girls would come in next! To reviewer who was asking about guy in first chapter, I'm sorry but I didn't understand if you were referring to Alex Hawk or Jay desai, but rest assured both are going to show up in this story at some point!

Thanks to my wonderful beta KyliEisMC2 for editing this and rest of the chapters I've posted before.

I'll post next chapter when I complete it, so stay tuned! And I hope this one was satisfactory...

Enjoy reading!

'till next time...

~Crazydreamer33


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